JOHN EGAN ROSA, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2003-01-15
No. 3D01-1436
Before LEVY, SHEVIN, and RAMIREZ, JJ.
847 So. 2d 495 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2003) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

John Egan Rosa was convicted of two robberies, two counts of aggravated battery on law enforcement officers, and aggravated fleeing/eluding police. The appellate court reversed the aggravated battery conviction as to one officer due to insufficient evidence, but affirmed the remaining convictions.


Holding

The court reversed the aggravated battery conviction as to Officer Adlet because the evidence was legally insufficient. To prove aggravated battery from vehicle ramming, the state must present evidence that the occupant was injured, jostled, moved about, or forced to brace themselves; the record contained no such evidence regarding Officer Adlet.


Headnotes

[1] Evidence is legally insufficient to establish aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer when the impact of a vehicle collision does not cause the officer to be inju…

[2] A conviction for aggravated battery arising from a vehicle ramming requires proof that the occupants of the rammed vehicle were injured, jostled, moved about within the v…

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Key Quotes

“The offense of aggravated battery which arises from a defendant's ramming of another vehicle must be proven through the introduction of evidence that the occupants of the rammed vehicle were injured, jostled, moved about within the vehicle, or had to brace themselves for protection against the impending impact.”

Establishes the legal standard for proving aggravated battery in vehicle ramming cases

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Facts & Procedural History

On February 19, 1998, Rosa robbed two individuals at gunpoint. Following a police BOLO, a high-speed chase ensued involving multiple officers. Rosa's …

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

John Egan Rosa appeals his judgment of conviction and sentence on two charges of robbery without a firearm, two charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, and a charge of aggravated fleeing or eluding of a law enforcement officer. We reverse the trial court’s judgment of conviction on the aggravated battery charge on Officer Adlet because the evidence was legally insufficient to establish the offense.

On February 19, 1998, A1 Cazoli and Mary Kick were robbed at gun point. Officer Komie arrived at the scene shortly after the robbery. Both Cazoli and Kick gave Officer Komie a description of the robbery, the robber, the gun used, as well as a description of the vehicle which the robber used to flee.

As a result of Officer Komie’s BOLO, a high speed chase ensued involving a number of police officers, including Officer Ad-let and Officer Morales. The suspect vehicle, a Monte Carlo, eventually crashed against a guard rail and Officer Adlet’s police vehicle. Officer Adlet was unbuckling his seatbelt when he noticed that the Monte Carlo was in reverse. The impact damaged the bumper of Officer Adlet’s vehicle, caused a strobe light to fall off the dashboard, and cracked a turn signal light. The impact also caused the door of the police vehicle to strike Officer Morales and injure his arm and shin area.

The chase continued, however, until the Monte Carlo came to a stop and the driver fled. The police arrested the Monte Carlo’s two passengers. Shortly thereafter, the police also arrested the driver at a nearby home. Cazoli subsequently identified the Monte Carlo as the vehicle he recalled having seen after the robbery. Both Cazoli and Kick identified Rosa as the robber at a show-up. Cazoli also identified Rosa at trial. The police recovered the stolen items from inside the Monte Carlo.

Appellee State of Florida charged Rosa with robbery with a deadly weapon or firearm, unlawful possession of a weapon while engaged in a crime, aggravated battery on two law enforcement officers using a deadly weapon, and aggravated fleeing or eluding a law enforcement officer. A jury found Rosa guilty of all charges, except unlawful possession of a weapon while engaged in a crime. The trial court accordingly entered judgments of guilty and entered a judgment of acquittal on the charge of unlawful possession of a weapon.

Rosa argues that his motion for judgment of acquittal on the aggravated battery charge on Officer Adlet should have been granted because there was insufficient evidence to prove a battery on Officer Adlet. We agree.

The offense of aggravated battery which arises from a defendant’s ramming of another vehicle must be proven through the introduction of evidence that the occupants of the rammed vehicle were injured, jostled, moved about within the vehicle, or had to brace themselves for protection against the impending impact. See V.A. v. State, 819 So. 2d 847, 849 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002). There is no evidence in this ease that Officer Adlet was injured, jostled, moved, or had to brace himself so as to protect against the impact of Rosa’s vehicle. We cannot infer from the record, including the testimony of police officers concerning the collision, that the impact from Rosa’s vehicle was of such magnitude so as to cause Officer Adlet to move. The evidence in this case, taken in the light most favorable to the State, see Nelson v. State, 753 So. 2d 648, 649 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), is thus insufficient for a jury to conclude that there was a battery upon Officer Adlet.

We find no error in the trial court’s denial of Rosa’s motion for mistrial, and no merit to Rosa’s other arguments raised in this appeal.

Reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Walker v. State, 120 So. 3d 96 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)
    …equired for a battery, evidence that the impact of the vehicles injured the occupants, or evidence that the collision caused the occupants to brace themselves, jostled them about, spun them, or moved them about within the vehicle. See Rosa v. State, 847 So. 2d 495, 497 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)(citing V.A. v. State, 819 So. 2d 847, 849 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)). Under some circumstances, it may be sufficient for the State to meet its burden of proof on this issue by demonstrating that the magnitude of the impact was so se…
  • Rosa v. State (Fla. 3d DCA 2019)
    …nimum mandatory as a PRR and an habitual felony offender as to Count VI, with all sentences to run concurrently. On appeal, this court reversed one of the two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer (Count V). See Rosa v. State, 847 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (Case No. 3D01-1436). The defendant filed a notice of discretionary review with the Florida Supreme Court, which was denied, and this court issued its mandate in the defendant’s direct appeal on April 23, 2004. Following the def…

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