JAMES PURKHISER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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James Purkhiser was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the shooting death of an eleven-year-old girl during a brief encounter at her home. The Florida Supreme Court reversed the conviction and remanded for entry of judgment for second-degree murder, finding insufficient evidence of premeditation.
The court held that while the trial court erred in submitting the issue of premeditation to the jury, the evidence clearly sustains only a charge of murder in the second degree because there is no evidence of a premeditated design to effect the death of the victim.
“an indispensable element of a charge of first degree murder is that the killing must result 'from a premeditated design to effect the death of [a] human being.'”
Establishes the legal requirement for first-degree murder and the basis for the court's finding that the evidence was insufficient
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePurkhiser came to a home searching for another man with whom he had quarreled earlier. During a sudden encounter lasting less than two minutes, he sho…
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The appeal in this case is from a judgment of conviction entered upon a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of first degree murder without recommendation of mercy, and sentence of death imposed thereon in the Circuit Court for St. Lucie County.
Alleged procedural errors and constitutional arguments presented by appellant are in our opinion without merit. We conclude, however, from examination of the voluminous record that the court erred in presenting to the jury the issue of premeditation over defendant’s motion for directed verdict on this point.
The evidence clearly sustains a charge of murder in the second degree. The homicide victim, an eleven year old girl, was shot in her home during a sudden and brief encounter between her father and the defendant, who came to the door in search of another man with whom he had quarreled earlier in the day. We think no purpose would be served by a detailed review of the preliminary events, beyond our considered conclusion that the record contains no charge or proof, direct or circumstantial, that the homicide occurred in the commission of a felony. Evidence relative to the fatal encounter, during the period of less than two minutes that defendant was at the scene, makes no reference to poor visibility or mistaken identity by defendant, to whom all' persons in the home at the time were complete strangers. Eyewitness testimony was that the fatal shots were -discharged suddenly as defendant turned toward a doorway to an adjacent room from which someone was moving. While the duration of intent may be quite immaterial, it is clear that under our law1 an indispensable element of a charge of first degree murder is that the killing must result “from a premeditated design to effect the death of [a] human being.” We find in this case no evidence upon which such a conclusion can lawfully be based.
The judgment of conviction and the sentence of death by electrocution is reversed and the cause is hereby remanded *450to the trial court to enter judgment and appropriate sentence for murder in the second degree.2
It is so ordered.
THOMAS, THORNAL and BARNS (Ret.), JJ., concur.
CALDWELL, C. J., and ROBERTS and ERVIN, JJ., dissent.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Provenzano v. State, 497 So. 2d 1177 (Fla. 1986)…may only be convicted of second-degree murder — a killing by an act evincing a depraved heart — because of the lack of evidence indicating that the shooting of Wilkerson resulted from a premeditated design to kill Wilkerson. See Purkhiser v. State, 210 So. 2d 448 (Fla.1968). Premeditation can be shown by circumstantial evidence. Spinkellink v. State, 313 So. 2d 666 (Fla.1975), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 3227, 49 L.Ed.2d 1221 (1976). “Premeditation is a fully-formed conscious purpose to kill, which…
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Knowles v. State, 632 So. 2d 62 (Fla. 1993)…ng, that he just might lose it and start shooting people in the trailer park is insufficient to support a finding of premeditation. However, there is sufficient evidence to support a conviction of murder in the second degree. See Purkhiser v. State, 210 So. 2d 448 (Fla.1968) (although evidence that young girl was shot during sudden, brief encounter between her father and defendant who came to door in search of another man was insufficient to prove premeditation, evidence was sufficient to support conviction o…
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Hines v. State, 227 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 1st DCA 1969)…premeditation necessary to sustain the verdict and judgment as discussed above, there does appear to be sufficient evidence to justify a verdict and judgment of second degree murder. Taylor v. State, 156 Fla. 122, 22 So. 2d 639; Purkhiser v. State, 210 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 1968). Therefore, pursuant to Section 924.34, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., the judgment of conviction for first degree murder is reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court with directions to enter an appropriate sentence for murder in th…
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