MICHAEL B. WILKINS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Michael Wilkins was convicted by jury of burglary, grand theft, and dealing in stolen property. The trial court entered judgment only for burglary and dealing in stolen property, omitting the grand theft conviction. Wilkins appealed arguing he was entitled to a new trial because the jury was not instructed that it could not convict on both grand theft and dealing in stolen property under Florida law.
Affirmed. A new trial is not warranted based on the trial court's failure to give an instruction on section 812.025, even when the jury returns guilty verdicts on both offenses. The trial court may properly remedy this error by entering judgment on only one of the two counts.
[1] A trial court may enter judgment and sentence on dealing in stolen property and burglary of a dwelling, but not on grand theft, when a jury returns guilty verdicts on all…
[2] A trial court's failure to instruct the jury that it cannot return a guilty verdict for both grand theft and dealing in stolen property does not warrant a new trial when…
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 trier of fact may return a guilty verdict on one or the other, but not both, of the counts”
This quote from section 812.025, Florida Statutes establishes that a defendant may not be convicted of both theft and dealing in stolen property for the same scheme or course of conduct.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn August 29, 2006, Wilkins stole property and pawned a portion of it. The stolen property had limited value, and a grand theft conviction would depen…
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Michael B. Wilkins appeals the judgment and sentences entered after a jury found him guilty of burglary of a dwelling, grand theft, and dealing in stolen property. Although the jury returned a guilty verdict on all three charges, the trial court correctly entered the judgment and sentences only on burglary of a dwelling and dealing in stolen property, not on grand theft. Mr. Wilkins argues that the trial court’s remedy was erroneous. He asserts that he is entitled to a new trial pursuant to Kiss v. State, 42 So.3d 810 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), arguing that the trial court fundamentally erred by failing to instruct the jury that under section 812.025, Florida Statutes (2006), it could not return a guilty verdict for both grand theft and dealing in stolen property. With respect to this issue, this court has previously certified conflict with Kiss, as well as certifying three questions of great public importance related to this issue. Poole v. State, 67 So.3d *19431 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011); Williams v. State, 66 So.3d 360 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011), review granted, No. SC11-1543, 2011 WL 4597556 (Fla. Sept. 22, 2011) (table decision); see also Blackmon v. State, 58 So.3d 343 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011) (disagreeing with Kiss and concluding that when a jury returns verdicts for both dealing in stolen property and petit theft, the trial court may vacate the conviction for the lesser offense), review granted, 67 So.3d 198 (Fla. 2011) (table decision). We affirm, but again certify conflict with Kiss, and also certify the same three questions of great public importance.
On August 29, 2006, Mr. Wilkins stole property and then pawned a portion of the property. The property that he took had limited value. As a result, the evidence would appear sufficient to support a conviction of grand theft of $300 or more, as charged, only if the amount included within the pawn shop transaction is also included within the theft.
At trial, the court did not instruct the jury that it could find Mr. Wilkins guilty of either grand theft or dealing in stolen property, but not both, and Mr. Wilkins did not request this instruction. See § 812.025 (providing that under proper circumstances a defendant may be charged with and tried for both “theft and dealing in stolen property in connection with one scheme or course of conduct ..., but the trier of fact may return a guilty verdict on one or the other, but not both, of the counts”). All of the charges were submitted to the jury, and it found Mr. Wilkins guilty of each offense. With respect to dealing in stolen property and grand theft, the trial court entered a judgment and sentence for dealing in stolen property, as a second-degree felony, but not for grand theft, as a third-degree felony in this case. This is the same procedure “that most, if not all, circuit courts have used in this district for many years” to satisfy the intent of section 812.025. Williams, 66 So.3d at 362.
In Williams, which was decided after Kiss, this court held that a new trial was not warranted on the basis of the trial court’s failure to give an instruction on section 812.025, even when the defendant requested the instruction and preserved the issue for review. Williams, 66 So.3d at 365. In Williams, the offenses occurred on two separate days and Mr. Williams pawned only a portion of the stolen items. Id. Thus, it may have been possible to sustain a conviction for grand theft and a conviction for dealing in stolen property due to the break in time and by allocating portions of the amount stolen to each offense.
We affirm this case based on the reasoning in Williams, recognizing that the facts in this case cannot be distinguished from those in Kiss. Our affirmance in this case is in direct conflict with Kiss.
Affirmed; conflict certified; questions certified.
VILLANTI and WALLACE, JJ., Concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Blackmon v. State, 121 So. 3d 535 (Fla. 2013)…ot required to mandate a new trial, must it require the trial court to select the greater offense or the lesser offense when the two offenses are offenses of different degrees or of different severity ranking? Id. at 365; see also Wilkins v. State, 78 So. 3d 18, 19 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011) (certifying conflict with Kiss, and certifying the same three questions as it did in Williams); Poole v. State, 67 So. 3d 431, 432 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011) (same). . Blackmon’s dealing in stolen property conviction was a second-deg…
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Terrick M. Crosby v. State, 125 So. 3d 822 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013)…OT REQUIRED TO MANDATE A NEW TRIAL, MUST IT REQUIRE THE TRIAL COURT TO SELECT THE GREATER OFFENSE OR THE LESSER OFFENSE WHEN THE TWO OFFENSES ARE OFFENSES OF DIFFERENT DEGREES OR OF DIFFERENT SEVERITY RANKING? Id. at 365; see also Wilkins v. State, 78 So. 3d 18, 19 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011) (certifying conflict with Kiss and certifying the questions certified in Williams); Poole v. State, 67 So. 3d 431 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011) (same). Based upon this court’s decision in Williams, we reject Mr. Crosby’s argument that t…
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Tonshad Levon Culpepper v. State, 107 So. 3d 521 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013)…ction 812.025 is not warranted and failure to give the instruction does not require a new trial. This court has certified conflict with Kiss and certified three questions of great public importance to the Florida Supreme Court. See Wilkins v. State, 78 So. 3d 18, 19 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011); Poole v. State, 67 So. 3d 431, 432 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011); Williams, 66 So. 3d at 365. We again certify conflict with Kiss and certify the following questions to the Florida Supreme Court that this court certified in Williams: 1…
Authorities Cited
- Kiss v. State, 42 So. 3d 810 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)
- Williams v. State, 66 So. 3d 360 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011)
- State v. Huby, 58 So. 3d 343 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)
- Blackmon v. State, 58 So. 3d 343 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)
- Poole v. State, 67 So. 3d 431 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011)