CARLOS CONTRERAS-MAYAHUA, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2010-07-14
No. 4D08-3406
GERBER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.
40 So. 3d 861 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2010) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 cases

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Holding

The court held that the erroneous jury instruction on manslaughter did not constitute fundamental error because the defendant was convicted of the lesser offense, not the greater offense, thus the instruction could not have prejudiced him.


Headnotes

[1] An erroneous jury instruction on a lesser included offense constitutes fundamental error when the conviction is for a crime only one step removed from that lesser include…

[2] An erroneous jury instruction on a lesser included offense does not constitute fundamental error when the defendant is convicted of the lesser included offense itself, as…

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Facts & Procedural History

The defendant was charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, but was convicted of the lesser included offenses of manslaugh…

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Opinion of the Court
POLEN, J.

POLEN, J.

Appellant, Carlos Contreras-Maya-hua, was charged by indictment with second-degree murder as to Adolfo Quiagua Acahua (Count I), and attempted second-degree murder as to Jose Florentino Hernandez-Amador (Count II) for events occurring on October 24, 2006. Following a jury trial, Contreras-Mayahua was convicted of the lesser included offenses of manslaughter (Count I) and aggravated battery (Count II). Contreras-Mayahua now appeals the trial court’s judgment adjudicating him guilty and sentencing him to two prison terms of fifteen years each to run consecutively.

Contreras-Mayahua raises several issues on appeal, but we write only to address whether fundamental error occurred in light of the trial court’s jury instruction on manslaughter by act as a lesser included offense of second-degree murder and the Florida Supreme Court’s recent decision in State v. Montgomery, 39 So.3d 252 (Fla.2010). In Montgomery, the court determined that the State is not required to prove that the defendant intended to kill the victim in order to prove manslaughter by act. Id. at 254. The court explained that requiring proof of intent as an element of manslaughter by act would “impose a more stringent finding of intent upon manslaughter than upon second-degree murder, which, like manslaughter, does not require proof that the defendant intended to kill the victim.” Id. at 256. The court found that the instruction given in Montgomery’s case (which was identical to that given in the instant case) required the jury to find that the defendant intended to kill the victim in order to convict Montgomery of manslaughter. Id. at 256-57.

Finally, the court held that, in Montgomery’s case, the erroneous instruction amounted to fundamental error 1

Because Montgomery’s conviction for second-degree murder was only one step removed from the necessarily lesser included offense of manslaughter, under Pena, fundamental error occurred in his case which was per se reversible where the manslaughter instruction erroneously imposed upon the jury a requirement to find that Montgomery intended to kill [the victim].

Id. at 259 (citing Pena v. State, 901 So.2d 781, 787 (Fla.2005)).

A close reading of Montgomery and Pena dictates that Contreras-Maya-hua’s judgment and sentence be affirmed. *863The court in both Montgomery2 and Pena 3 phrases the issue in terms of the defendant’s conviction and its relation to the lesser offense. Here, Contreras-May-ahua’s conviction is the lesser offense of manslaughter.

Our holding is in keeping with the concern of the court in Montgomery — that a jury which has been instructed that intent is an element of manslaughter but not of second-degree murder, and which finds that the State has not shown intent, would necessarily convict the defendant of second-degree murder. In Montgomery, the defendant was convicted of second-degree murder. But here, despite the erroneous instruction, Contreras-Mayahua was convicted of the lesser offense of manslaughter. Therefore, the erroneous instruction could not have influenced the jury to the detriment of Contreras-Mayahua, and thus, could not have constituted fundamental error.

Affirmed.

GERBER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Daniels v. State, 46 So. 3d 630 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)
    …9 So. 3d 252 (Fla.2010). We deny the motion because, under the circumstances of this case, including the fact that the jury was given a manslaughter by culpable negligence instruction, no harmful error in fact took place. Contreras-Mayahua v. State, 40 So. 3d 861 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), Cubelo v. State, 41 So. 3d 263 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010), and Salonko v. State, 42 So. 3d 801 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010), which involve identical factual situations, require this result. In Cúbelo, for example, the court stated: We find, as…
  • Eugenio Spitalieri v. State, 72 So. 3d 154 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011)
    …PER CURIAM. We affirm Eugenio Spitalieri’s convictions of two counts of manslaughter with a firearm and the consecutive fifteen-year sentences imposed as a consequence. See Contreras-Mayahua v. State, 40 So. 3d 861 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). We accept the State’s concession of error regarding Spitalieri’s motion to correct his sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b). The State concedes that Spitalieri is entitled to 586 days of credi…
  • Lenzy B. Johnson v. State, 61 So. 3d 1226 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)
    …[*1227] PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Contreras-Mayahua v. State, 40 So. 3d 861 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010).…

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