WILLIE BOYD, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1960-04-07
No. B-267
WIGGINTON, Chief Judge, and MELVIN, WOODROW M., Associate Judge, concur.
122 So. 2d 632 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1960) Positive Treatment
Cited by 28 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

The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed a manslaughter conviction, holding that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove "culpable negligence" beyond a reasonable doubt, even though it might have supported a finding of simple negligence. The court emphasized the distinction between simple and culpable negligence in criminal prosecutions.


Holding

No, the evidence was insufficient to establish "culpable negligence" as required for a manslaughter conviction. While the evidence may have supported a finding of simple negligence, it did not meet the higher standard necessary for a criminal offense.


Key Quotes

“While the record on this appeal contains ample facts to support the conclusion that the defendant was guilty of “simple” negligence having a substantial part to play in the tragic accident, it is noted that the learned trial judge, in a colloquy with counsel while the jury was absent, expressed grave doubt as to the sufficiency of the evidence to demonstrate “culpable negligence” essential to conviction.”

This quote highlights the court's finding that the evidence supported simple negligence but not the higher standard of culpable negligence, and notes the trial judge's own doubts.

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Facts & Procedural History

The appellant, Willie Boyd, was convicted of manslaughter for the unlawful death of Beverly Hart, allegedly resulting from his culpable negligence in …

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Opinion of the Court
STURGIS, Judge.

STURGIS, Judge.

The appellant, defendant below, was convicted of manslaughter under Section 782.-07, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., upon an indictment charging that the unlawful death resulted from defendant’s culpable negligence in the operation of an automobile.

Reversal is sought on the grounds that the trial court erred: (1) in denying defendant’s motion to quash the indictment; (2) in denying defendant’s motion for a bill of particulars; (3) in refusing to admit in evidence a photograph proffered by defendant; (4) in denying defendant’s motion for a directed verdict'; and (5) in refusing cer*634tain charges to the jury as requested by defendant.

The indictment charged the defendant with

“culpable negligence in driving, operating, controlling and handling the aforesaid Ford pulpwood truck in a manner than was then and there reasonable and proper, and not then and there having due regard of the traffic and use of the aforesaid Public State Road and Highway, and with disregard for the life and safety of Beverly Hart.”

While this indictment is something less than a paragon of perfection, it adequately states the offense defined by F.S. Section 782.07, F.S.A., and the motion to quash was properly denied. Kirkland v. State, 86 Fla. 64, 97 So. 502; Tindall v. State, 99 Fla. 1132, 128 So. 494; Patterson v. State, 128 Fla. 539, 175 So. 730.

Defendant’s motion for a bill of particulars was filed after entry of his plea to the indictment. It was therefore within the discretion of the trial court to grant or deny the motion. Mathis v. State, 45 Fla. 46, 34 So. 287. In so holding we do not undertake to determine whether the result would be otherwise had the motion been timely filed.

On cross-examination by defendant’s counsel of a witness who testified in support of the state’s case in chief, the witness was confronted with a photograph which had not previously been exhibited or alluded to in any manner, and was questioned whether it substantially depicted the physical condition immediately following the accident of a truck and automobile involved therein, to which an affirmative reply was given. No further inquiry was made of this or any other witness concerning the photograph. Thus there was no testimony reflecting when the photograph was made, the position of the camera, the extent of the view reflected thereby, or any effort made to use it as an aid to testimony. After the state closed its case in chief the defendant, without further qualification or explanation, proffered the photograph in evidence, and upon objection its admission was denied. When properly identified, photographs are usable as an aid to the jury in somewhat the same capacity as a view of the scene. They are generally admissible in evidence for use by witnesses in explaining their testimony, thus enabling the jury to better understand the facts. Ortiz v. State, 30 Fla. 256, 11 So. 611. Considering the proffer in the light of these circumstances, the court did not err in refusing to admit the photograph in evidence.

We find no merit in defendant’s contention that the court erred in failing to charge the jury with the rule of law governing circumstantial evidence in criminal prosecutions. Our review of the testimony reflects that the state relied primarily on the direct testimony of eyewitnesses to the alleged crime, and when such is the case it is not necessary to charge the jury with the subject rule. It is only when the prosecution relies solely on circumstantial evidence and when the nature of the circumstantial evidence is such that an inference affecting guilt is necessary to be drawn from collateral facts which have a natural or generally recognized relation to such inference that the court is compelled to instruct the jury upon the law governing circumstantial evidence in prosecutions for crime. Jackson v. State, Fla.App., 107 So. 2d 247.

Turning now to the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction, it is axiomatic that each case of-the nature here involved rests upon the facts and circumstances peculiar to it. Attempts at the appellate level to summarize the evidence before the trial court are inherently faulty because it is impossible to recapture the setting, drama and nuances of the trial scene, and we will resist that temptation on this appeal.

*635No less impossible are the repeated efforts of the “two and seventy jarring sects” to define the subtle distinctions between the multifarious degrees and shades of negligence. They have been enunciated in what remains a vain attempt to departmentalize negligence according to the many legal situations in which it is involved. These attempts, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, have now so confused the law that the savant is no less at sea than the layman who treads the labyrinthine path that flows like ectoplasm about their ghostly forms.

We are none the less aware that in a prosecution for manslaughter arising out of “culpable negligence” the trial judge, responsible for the conduct of the trial according to law, and the jury, responsible for the determination of the facts according to the applicable law, must within their respective spheres take into account the very important distinction between “culpable negligence” and the lesser degrees of negligence, whatever the number of the latter may be. We interpret the evidence in the case on appeal to be such, taken in the light most favorable to the state, that the trial judge should have entertained no doubt as to its insufficiency, as a matter of law, to support the charge of manslaughter resulting from culpable negligence. The defendant was entitled to the benefit of that doubt in point of law in the same sense that he was entitled to the benefit of the reasonable doubt in point of fact. Under such circumstances it is the duty of the trial judge to direct a verdict of acquittal.

While the record on this appeal contains ample facts to support the conclusion that the defendant was guilty of “simple” negligence having a substantial part to play in the tragic accident, it is noted that the learned trial judge, in a colloquy with counsel while the jury was absent, expressed grave doubt as to the sufficiency of the evidence to demonstrate “culpable negligence” essential to conviction. Our careful review compels the conclusion that it falls short of the test laid down by the Supreme Court in Cannon v. State, 91 Fla. 214, 107 So. 360. Accordingly, the judgment of conviction is reversed, the sentence is set aside, and it is ordered that the defendant be discharged.

Reversed with directions to discharge the defendant.

WIGGINTON, Chief Judge, and MELVIN, WOODROW M., Associate Judge, concur.


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Citator

Cited By (14 total)

  • Crum v. State, 172 So. 2d 24 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)
    …191 So. 12; San Fratello v. State, Fla. App.1963, 154 So. 2d 327), all inferences to be drawn from the evidence are to be in favor of the verdict or judgment of guilt. See: Cameron v. State, Fla.App.1959, 112 So. 2d 864; Boyd v. State, Fla.App.1960, 122 So. 2d 632. Measuring the record in the instant case in light of these principles, we find substantial, competent evidence to support the trial court’s action and, therefore, it will be sustained. As to the question of the propriety of admitting into evidenc…
  • Grant v. State, 171 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 1965)
    …* * A confession voluntarily made, but procured by artifice, falsehood, or deception, is admissible.” Accord, Harrison v. State, 110 Fla. 420, 424, 148 So. 882 (1933). . Lindberg v. State, 134 Fla. 786, 790, 184 So. 662, 663 (1938); Boyd v. State, 122 So. 2d 632, 634 (Fla.App. 1st 1960). . People v. Dabb, 32 Cal.2d 491, 197 P. 2d 1 (1948); State v. Palmer, 227 La. 691, 80 So. 2d 374 (1955); State v. Wise, 19 N.J. 59, 115 A. 2d 62 (1955); Pollack v. State, 215 Wis. 200, 253 N.W. 560. aff’d on reh. 215 Wis.…
  • State v. Anderson, 270 So. 2d 353 (Fla. 1972)
    …necessarily drawn from collateral facts which have a nature or generally recognized relation to such inference that the Court is compelled to instruct the jury upon the law governing circumstantial evidence in prosecutions for crime. Boyd v. State, 122 So. 2d 632 (Fla.App.1st, 1960). The opinion of the District Court of Appeal is quashed and this cause is remanded to the District Court of Appeal with instructions to affirm the judgment of the trial court. It is so ordered. ROBERTS, C. J., and ERVIN, CARLT…

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