DONALD MULLIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that voluntary intoxication is not a defense when the defendant claims they did not commit the act.
The defendant was convicted of aggravated battery for pushing a victim down stairs. He claimed his attorney was ineffective for not advising him of th…
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HARRIS, J.
Mullís contends that he should be relieved from the jury’s guilty verdict on the charge of aggravated battery, for pushing the victim down stairs, because his attorney was ineffective in not advising him that voluntary intoxication was a defense. Unfortunately, his claim at trial was that he did not touch the victim and did not push her down the stairs, not that he did so only because he was drunk. Even if appropriate, had he known of the defense of voluntary intoxication, it would not have availed him here.
Thus, even had he known that such a defense existed 1, the best he could have done in this case would have been to change his story. The purpose of a defense is to justify one’s actions based on the facts; it is not to pattern the facts to justify a defense. There is no defense needed for “I didn’t do it” except the truth.
AFFIRMED.
W. SHARP, and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. . Since October 1, 1999, the defense does not exist. See section 775.051, Florida Statutes (1999).
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Mullis v. State, 864 So. 2d 1246 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)…cond-guess. Blanco v. State, 702 So. 2d 1250, 1251 (Fla.1997). AFFIRMED. GRIFFIN and TORPY, JJ., concur. . Mullis also brought an earlier appeal involving the denial of his post-conviction motion filed pursuant to rule 3.850. See Mullis v. State, 769 So. 2d 475 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). That opinion recites that Mullis had been convicted of aggravated battery after a jury found him guilty of pushing the victim down the stairs.…