ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Robert Rodriguez appealed his conviction for kidnapping, aggravated child abuse, and sexual battery of a child under 13. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction on five grounds but reversed and remanded on a procedural issue requiring the entry of a written competency order.
The court affirmed the conviction on the first five issues but reversed and remanded on the sixth issue, requiring the trial court to enter a written order reflecting its oral pronouncement that Rodriguez was competent to proceed to trial.
[1] A conviction for kidnapping a child under 13 with aggravated child abuse and sexual battery is affirmed when the child victim's statements are corroborated by physical ev…
[2] Expert testimony regarding a child victim's credibility is permissible when the expert considers corroborating facts and distinguishes the case from situations requiring…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the child victim's statements were corroborated by physical evidence as well as consistent accounts given by the child to the child's mother, law enforcement personnel, a fire rescue officer who responded to the burn report, and a nurse”
Establishes why the court rejected challenges to victim credibility and expert testimony, as corroboration distinguished the case from improper 'sexual abuse by history' diagnoses
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRodriguez was charged with kidnapping a child under 13 with aggravated child abuse and sexual battery. A jury found him guilty on all three counts. Th…
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Robert Rodriguez appeals a final judgment of conviction and sentence following a jury trial. The amended information charged Rodriguez with: kidnapping a child under the age of 13, with aggravated child abuse and sexual battery, in violation of section 787.01(3)(a), Florida Statutes (2013); aggravated child abuse, in violation of section 827.03(2), Florida Statutes (2013); and sexual battery by a person 18 years of age or older on a person less than 12 years of age, in violation of section 794.011(2), Florida Statutes (2013). The jury returned a verdict of guilt on all three counts.
Rodriguez raises six issues: an alleged misrepresentation by the prosecutor regarding prior sexual abuse suffered by the child victim; improper bolstering by an expert pediatrician and child sexual abuse medical expert regarding the child victim’s credibility; an inadequate Nelson1 hearing; denial of a motion to authorize payment under section 29.007(4), Florida Statutes (2015), for a polygraph examination, contended to have been indispensable to Rodriguez’s plea negotiations; allegedly improper comments by the prosecutor inviting a non-unanimous verdict on the theory of aggravated child abuse; and the absence of a written finding of competency following an oral pronouncement by the trial court to that effect.
After a thorough review of the record in the case and, in particular, upon application of the appropriate standards of review2 to each of the issues raised by Rodriguez, we reject Rodriguez’s first five issues on appeal—observing that the child victim’s statements were corroborated by physical evidence as well as consistent accounts given by the child to the child’s mother, law enforcement personnel, a fire rescue officer who responded to the burn report, and a nurse. The pediatrician and child sexual abuse expert who testified in the case considered these facts in formulating his opinion, distinguishing this case *1251from the diagnosis of “sexual abuse by history” held to require reversal and a new trial in Ramayo v. State, 132 So.3d 1224 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014).
The sixth issue on appeal, however, warrants a limited reversal and remand for the entry of a written order finding Rodriguez was competent to proceed to trial.3 Gordon v. State, 219 So.3d 189, 197 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017); Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.212(b).
Affirmed in part; reversed and remanded for the limited purpose of entering an order consistent with the trial court’s oral pronouncement that Rodriguez was competent to proceed to trial.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Nelson v. State, 274 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)
- Bell v. State, 108 So. 3d 639 (Fla. 2013)
- Gordon v. State, 219 So. 3d 189 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017)
- Alexeis Ramayo v. State, 132 So. 3d 1224 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014)