JOSHEA J. GILLIAMS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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The court affirmed a conviction where the defendant argued that inadequate medical treatment was an intervening cause of death, breaking the causal chain. The court held that when a defendant inflicts a life-threatening wound, subsequent medical malpractice or suboptimal medical care cannot serve as a legally valid intervening cause defense.
Medical malpractice or lack of optimal medical attention does not constitute an intervening cause of death when the defendant has inflicted a life-threatening wound. The trial court properly excluded evidence of intervening medical causes as irrelevant to any legally recognized defense under these circumstances.
[1] Where a defendant inflicts a life-threatening wound, evidence of medical malpractice or inadequate medical care is not relevant and does not constitute a valid intervenin…
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The court cited Johnson v. State, 59 So. 894, 895 (Fla. 1912), establishing the foundational principle that inadequate medical care does not shield a defendant from homicide liability for inflicting a life-threatening wound.
The defendant Gilliams inflicted a gunshot wound to the victim's chest/abdomen. The medical examiner testified that the victim would have died regardl…
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possibly have been averted by some possible mode of treatment. The true doctrine is that, where the wound is in itself dangerous to life, mere erroneous treatment of it or of the wounded man suffering from it will afford the defendant no protection against the charge of unlawful homicide. Johnson v. State, 59 So. 894, 895 (Fla. 1912) (quoting Daughdrill v. State, 21 So. 378, 387 (Ala. 1896)). The rule has since been that where a defendant inflicts a wound that is life threatening, “supervening lack of optimal medical attention or affirmative medical malpractice is not an intervening cause of the victim’s death.” State v. Smith, 496 So. 2d 195, 196 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986) (citing Hallman v. State, 371 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1979)); see also Rose v. State, 591 So. 2d 195, 200 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (on motion for rehearing, the court held that evidence of medical malpractice is irrelevant unless it can be shown to be the sole cause of death).
In Gilliams’s case, the medical examiner gave testimony in deposition and at trial that the victim would have died had he not received medical attention and that the cause of death was a gunshot wound of the chest/abdomen. The trial court was within its discretion in restricting Gilliams’s counsel from questioning the medical examiner on intervening causes of death because it was “not relevant to a legally recognizable defense in this case.” The bullet wound was a life-threatening injury for which medical malpractice or lack of optimal medical care was not a legally valid defense under the circumstances.
AFFIRMED.
MAKAR, WINOKUR, and WINSOR, JJ., concur. _____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331.
_____________________________ Andy Thomas, Public Defender, Tallahassee, and Victor D. Holder, Assistant Public Defender, for Appellant. Ashley Brooke Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Amanda D. Stokes, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
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Hallman v. State, 371 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1979)…have been known at the time of Hallman’s trial, the writ of error coram nobis would not lie because the fact of the hospital’s negligence would not have precluded Hall-man’s conviction. As this Court explained in Johnson v. State, 64 Fla. 321, 323, 59 So. 894, 895 (1912): A defendant cannot escape the penalties for an act which in point of fact produces death, which death might possibly have been averted by some possible mode of treatment. The true doctrine is that, where the wound is in itself dangerou…1 / 3
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Kersey v. State, 73 Fla. 832 (Fla. 1917)…of the rulings of which complaint is made.' We call attention to the difference in the question propounded in the instant case and the questions propounded in the cases of Mann v. State, supra; Jones v. State, supra; Lassiter v. State, 64 Fla. 337, 59 South. Rep. 894, upon which the defendant relies, also the variance in the attendant facts and circumstances. As we said in Alford v. State, 47 Fla. 1, text 8, 36 South. Rep. 436, “Ordinary witnesses may give their opinions in connection with the facts upon which t…
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Cook v. State, 46 Fla. 20 (Fla. 1903)…s, as there may be an unlawful intentional killing that is not murder in the first degree, and that whether the killing was deliberate or (and) premeditated was a matter that must be left to the jury. In the case of Daughdrill v. State, 113 Ala. 7, 21 South. Rep. 378, the court had occasion to determine the meaning of the words “deliberate” and “premeditated” and on page 32 of the opinion went to the extreme of holding that those words as used in the statute, “mean only this: That the slayer must intend before t…1 / 3
Previewing 3 of 22 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Hallman v. State, 371 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1979)
- Joshea J. Gilliams v. State, 262 So. 3d 869 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019)
- Johnson v. State, 64 Fla. 321 (Fla. 1912)
- Rose v. State, 591 So. 2d 195 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)
- State v. Smith, 496 So. 2d 195 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)