JOSEPH FRANCIS ZEREGA, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1972-03-15
No. 41126
ERVIN, Acting C. J., and CARLTON, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ„ concur.
260 So. 2d 1 Florida Supreme Court (1972) Negative Treatment
Cited by 14 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 Supreme Court discharged a certiorari petition challenging Zerega's murder conviction, holding that a single hypothetical question regarding silence during a sanity examination constituted harmless error that did not warrant reversal. The court distinguished the case from Jones and Galasso based on the limited nature of the comment and the trial court's curative instruction.


Holding

The court held that the single comment on petitioner's silence was harmless error because: (1) it was posed as a hypothetical question in the context of the sanity issue, not the commission of the act; (2) the trial court sustained the objection and thoroughly admonished the jury to disregard it; and (3) the comment was inconsequential and did not injuriously affect petitioner's substantial rights.


Headnotes

[1] Hypothetical questions posed to expert witnesses need not be an exact reproduction of the evidence and may include reasonable theories as to the effect of evidence.

[2] A jury should disregard hypothetical questions and their answers if the jury finds the underlying facts have not been proven.

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Key Quotes

“It is well settled that hypothetical questions need not be an exact reproduction of the evidence and counsel may pose hypothetical questions upon any reasonable theory as to the effect of evidence.”

Establishes that prosecutors have broad discretion in framing hypothetical questions during cross-examination of expert witnesses.

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Facts & Procedural History

Zerega was indicted for first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. At trial, he was convicted of second-degree m…

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Opinion of the Court
ADKINS, Justice.

ADKINS, Justice.

By petition for certiorari, we have for review a decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (Zerega v. State, 247 So.2d 349), which allegedly *2conflicts with a prior decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District (Jones v. State, 200 So.2d 574), and a prior decision of this Court (State v. Galasso, 217 So.2d 326) on the same point of law. Fla.Const., art. V, § 4, F.S.A.

Petitioner was indicted for murder in the first degree and entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Upon trial by jury petitioner was found guilty of murder in the second degree, adjudged guilty by the Court, and sentenced to imprisonment in the State prison for a term of 25 years. Upon appeal, petitioner’s conviction was affirmed by the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, without opinion (247 So.2d 249).

At the trial, the following occurred during the cross-examination of a psychiatrist and neurologist, Dr. Clifford McIntyre by the State Attorney:

‘•Q What about, Doctor, if an individual would, after he is apprehended— requests the services of an attorney? Would that indicate he knew right from wrong?
“A No.
“Q Could it indicate that he knew right from wrong?
“Mr. Varón: Excuse me, Your Honor. There is no such evidence in this case about his apprehension or anything like that; misleading the witness.
“The Court: Objection overruled. This is cross-examination.
“Mr. Varón: All right.
“The Court: There is no evidence at all that’s been adduced as to some of these matters.
“Mr. Varón: All right.
“Q So it’s your statement that an individual apprehended, then is advised of his rights, let’s say, and says, ‘I’m not going to say anything until I talk to an attorney,’ would that indicate that he knew right from wrong about the act?
“Mr. Varón: Same objection, Your Honor. There is nothing about this in the record.
“The Court: Objection sustained. The jury will disregard that question.”
“(Emphasis ours)”

When Dr. Peter Gordon Lever, a psychiatrist, was testifying for the defense, the prosecutor on cross-examination asked the following;

“Q Doctor, in regards to this individual knowing right from wrong on the night in question, does it change your opinion any that the individual leaves the scene?
“A No.
“Q Does it change your opinion any that when contacted by the police—
“The Court: Just a minute, Counsel.
Take the jury to the jury room, Mr. Bailiff.”

At this point petitioner moved for a mistrial based upon the fact that the prosecution had attempted to indicate that when the petitioner was contacted by the police he took advantage of his constitutional rights and chose to remain silent. The motion for mistrial was denied.

The thrust of petitioner’s argument is that the question quoted above and emphasized by us was so prejudicial to defendant as to warrant a mistrial.

In Jones v. State, supra, relied upon by petitioner for conflict, a police officer testified in a grand larceny prosecution that when the victim stated defendant was the one who had taken her purse the defendant did not say anything. The Court held that this was reversible error.

In the case sub judice, no evidence was introduced or testimony given con*3cerning the silence of the accused. To place the questions in the case sub judice in their proper perspective, it must be realized that they were asked of the 'experts as hypothetical questions presenting additional hypothetical facts which might, or might not, change the nature of their opinions. There was no assertion by the State Attorney that petitioner himself had engaged in such conduct. It is well settled that hypothetical questions need not be an exact reproduction of the evidence and counsel may pose hypothetical questions upon any reasonable theory as to the effect of evidence. Should the jury find such evidence is not proved, the questions and answers must simply be disregarded. Baker v. State, 30 Fla. 41, 11 So. 492 (1892), and Williams v. State, 45 Fla. 128, 34 So. 279 (1903).

The comment on petitioner’s silence happened on a hypothetical question going to the issue of sanity, and not to the issue of whether petitioner committed the acts constituting the offense. There was no basis in the record for this question and it was properly stricken as an improper question.

The trial court must of necessity exercise a liberal discretion in controlling cross-examination. Since the Court sustained an objection to the question and admonished the jury to disregard the question, no ground for complaint remains. Only on one occasion during the course of the trial did the jury hear the alleged comment on the petitioner’s silence and they were quickly and thoroughly admonished to disregard the question.

Petitioner also relies upon State v. Galasso, supra, where the Court considered the prejudicial effect of a police officer’s testimony that when he asked defendant who owned marijuana the officer had found, a defendant replied “some man, don’t say anything.” This Court held that the admission of this statement was error. However, the error was held to be harmless and the conviction was not reversed. In the case sub judice, the single comment on petitioner’s silence was just as inconsequential as the statement in State v. Galasso, supra, as it occurred in a hypothetical question going to the issue of sanity rather than the commission of the act.

Fla.Stat. § 924.33, F.S.A., provides as follows:

“No judgment shall be reversed unless the appellate court is of the opinion, after an examination of all the appeal papers that error was committed that injuriously affected the substantial rights of the appellant. It shall not be presumed that error injuriously affected the substantial rights of the appellant.”

It has not been made to appear that the substantial rights of petitioner have been injuriously affected by the question propounded during the trial. Just as in State v. Galasso, supra, the comment by such question was so inconsequential as to be a harmless error.

Wright v. State, 251 So.2d 890 (Fla.App. 1st, 1971), was an appeal from a conviction of breaking and entering with attempt to commit a felony and of grand larceny. In its opinion, the Court said:

“Wright’s primary point on appeal pertains to the testimony of a police officer. During the interrogation of this witness by the State, he stated:
“ ‘ * * * I brought Paul Wright out and talked to him. I advised him of his rights under the Miranda ruling and asked him about the items in the automobile and he had no explanation. I asked him if he would give me * * * >
“Defense counsel immediately objected and moved for a mistrial, which motion was denied. Defendant vigorously contends that this remark so prej^ udiced his rights that the failure to grant mistrial was reversible error, citing Miranda v. State of Arizona (384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 *4A.L.R.3d 974), Jones v. State (200 So.2d 574 (Fla.DCA 3d 1967)), and Galasso v. State (207 So.2d 45 (Fla.DCA 4th 1968)).
“In Jones, the defendant was accused of snatching a purse and found.in possession of articles identified by the victim as being hers. Upon the authority of Miranda, the Third District Court of Appeal held that the introduction of evidence by the State, without objection, that the accused, while in custody, remained silent in the face of an accusation of guilt, constitutes fundamental error.
“In Galasso, the Fourth District Court held that any evidence to the effect that a defendant in custody remained silent is inadmissible where such evidence tends to penalize the defendant for having exercised his right to remain silent. The Supreme Court of Florida, in reviewing Galasso, stated:
“ ‘Although the District Court correctly adopted the proper rule of law we nevertheless reach a different result than it did in our disposition of this cause. Admittedly the admission of the testimony of Mr. Brumley was error but the issues remain, was it such an error as to require reversal or was it, in fact, harmless error. * * * ’
“and concluded that the error committed by the trial court’s admission of the testimony fell within the harmless error doctrine. Factually, the instant cause is controlled by the Supreme Court’s opinion in Galasso. As stated therein, ‘That such an inconclusive and insubstantial colloquy can vitiate an otherwise proper trial so as to require reversal tends to make a mockery out of our system of jurisprudence.’ ” (p. 891).

Petitioner has failed to show direct conflict with any other decision of a District Court of Appeal or this Court. The writ of certiorari having been improvidently entered the same is discharged.

It is so ordered.

ERVIN, Acting C. J., and CARLTON, BOYD and McCAIN, JJ„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Bennett v. State, 316 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 1975)
    …on, warranting reversal without regard to the doctrine of harmless error. As this result marks a change from prior appellate decisions in this state, however, I would expressly clarify the relationship of this decision to those. In Zerega v. State, 260 So. 2d 1 (Fla.1972), this Court intimated in dicta2 that a quick and thorough admonition by the trial judge to disregard a comment on defendant’s silence can cure any harm to the defendant. Today’s decision abolishes any inference that an admonition can ever…
  • Breniser v. State, 267 So. 2d 23 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972)
    …been given warning of his constitutional. rights] was inadmissible, it contends that such testimony did not injuriously affect substantial rights of the appellant and hence was harmless, citing in support of its position Zerega v. State, Fla. 1972, 260 So. 2d 1; Wright v. State, Fla.App.1971, 251 So. 2d 890 and State v. Galasso, supra. Each of these cases involved a single, isolated comment which was felt to be too inconsequential and unsubstantial as to justify reversal, whereas in this case, between the…
  • Seibels v. Giddings, 264 So. 2d 103 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972)
    …othetical. Baker v. State, 30 Fla. 41, 11 So. 492; Escambia County Electric Light and Power Company v. Sutherland, 61 Fla. 167, 55 So. 83; Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association v. Bunting, 133 Fla. 646, 183 So. 321; Zerega v. State, Fla.1972, 260 So. 2d 1. The questions propounded in the instant case went to the speed of the motorcycle operated by the deceased minor. There was evidence which tended to show a point of impact of the two vehicles [admittedly this issue was in conflict, but a definite po…

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