CARL BLUE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Carl Blue was convicted of throwing a deadly missile and aggravated assault after a jury trial. The appellate court reversed the deadly missile conviction because the trial court improperly allowed the State to amend the charging document after the State rested its case, changing a critical element of the offense from "building" to "vehicle," which violated due process.
The trial court erred in both respects. The evidence did not support the charged offense as originally stated, so the motion for judgment of acquittal should have been granted. The amendment was not a mere scrivener's correction but a substantive change to an element of the offense, and allowing it violated due process by permitting the jury to find Blue guilty of a charge for which he was not on trial.
[1] A trial court errs in allowing the State to amend an information to change an element of the offense after the State has rested its case.
[2] A trial court should grant a motion for judgment of acquittal when the evidence presented does not support the charged offense.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The general rule is where an offense may be committed in various ways, the evidence must establish it to have been committed in the manner charged in the indictment.”
Establishes that evidence must match the specific manner of committing the offense as charged, not just the general offense category.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn July 18, 2002, Blue threw a trailer hitch at an occupied vehicle. The Information initially charged him with throwing a deadly missile within or in…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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FULMER, Judge.
Carl Blue was convicted after a jury trial of throwing a deadly missile and aggravated assault. We reverse the conviction for throwing a deadly missile because the trial court erred in allowing the State to amend the Information to change an element of the offense after the State had rested its case.
Count one of the Information charged that, on July 18, 2002, Blue did “throw a certain missile, or hurled or projected a stone or other hard substance, to-wit: TRAILOR [sic] HITCH, which would produce death or great bodily harm, at, within or into a building, contrary to section 790.19, Florida Statutes.... ” Blue moved for a judgment of acquittal at the end of the State’s case arguing that while the information charged him with throwing a deadly missile within or into a building, the evidence showed that Blue had thrown a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle. In response to the motion, the State moved to amend the Information, and the trial court granted the State’s motion.
The trial court allowed the State to amend count one of the Information to delete the word “building” and insert in the words “train, locomotive, railway car, caboose, cable railway car, street railway car, monorail car or vehicle of any kind that was being used or occupied by any person.”
Blue argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal. He also argues that the trial court erred in allowing the amendment to the Information.
We agree that the evidence did not support the charged offense and, thus, the trial court should have granted the motion for judgment of acquittal. See Long v. State, 92 So. 2d 259, 260 (Fla.1957) (“The general rule is where an offense may be committed in various ways, the evidence must establish it to have been committed in the manner charged in the indictment.”).
We also agree with Blue that it was error for the trial court to allow the amendment to the charging document because the amendment was not a mere correction of a scrivener’s error but instead was a change to an element of the offense. By allowing the amendment, the trial court permitted the jury to find Blue guilty of a charge for which he was not on trial, which was a violation of due process. See Green v. State, 728 So. 2d 779 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (reversing conviction because, by granting the State’s motion to amend at the conclusion of its case to change the name of the battery victim, the trial court allowed the jury to find appellant guilty of a crime for which he had not been charged); see also Stang v. State, 421 So. 2d 147 (Fla.1982) (holding that State failed to carry its burden of demonstrating a lack of prejudice to defendant when it sought to amend statement of particulars at trial).
Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the trial court to grant the motion for judgment of acquittal on count one. Because our reversal will affect the criminal punishment code scoresheet, we direct the trial court to resentenee Blue for the ag gravated assault conviction on remand after a new seoresheet is prepared.
Reversed and remanded.
SILBERMAN and COVINGTON, JJ., concur.
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Peterson Baltazare Simbert v. State, 226 So. 3d 883 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017)…etration with digital penetration. Like in Green and Hutchinson, the mid-trial amendment constituted “the filing of a new and entirely different offense,” and was not merely clarification of details. Green, 728 So. 2d at 781. See also Blue v. State, 876 So. 2d 1273, 1274 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (holding the trial court erred in allowing an amendment to the charging document that “was not a mere correction of a scrivener’s error but instead was a change to an element of the offense”); Diaz v. State, 38 So. 3d 791, 7…
Authorities Cited
- Long v. State, 92 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 1957)
- Green v. State, 728 So. 2d 779 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
- Stang v. State, 421 So. 2d 147 (Fla. 1982)