EDWIN LEE PATE, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1976-11-15
No. CC-144
RAWLS and McCORD, JJ., concur.
338 So. 2d 1331 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1976) Caution
Cited by 2 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

Appellant Pate was convicted of two counts of robbery and two counts of aggravated assault arising from a single incident where he robbed two hitchhikers at knifepoint. The court affirmed the robbery convictions but vacated the aggravated assault sentences, finding they violated Florida's single transaction rule because the assault was not independent of the robbery.


Holding

The court held that the robberies and aggravated assaults occurred as part of the same criminal transaction, requiring that the sentences on the aggravated assault counts be vacated. The convictions themselves were affirmed, but the sentences for aggravated assault were eliminated because they violated the single transaction rule.


Headnotes

[1] Sentences for aggravated assault may be vacated when the assault and the robbery arise from the same criminal transaction and the assault is not independent of or qualita…

[2] A temporal distinction between a robbery and an aggravated assault is a factor in determining whether they constitute a single criminal transaction.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Under the facts as revealed by the record, we are compelled to agree with appellant's assertion that the robberies and the aggravated assaults occurred as part of the same criminal transaction.”

The court's determination that the crimes constituted a single transaction, triggering application of the single transaction rule.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

On April 29, 1975, at approximately 11:00 p.m., appellant picked up two high school students hitchhiking. He stopped the car, pointed a hunting knife …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
BOYER, Chief Judge.

BOYER, Chief Judge.

Appellant, charged by information with two counts of robbery and .two counts of aggravated assault, was tried by a jury and found guilty as charged. He received sentences of 20 years imprisonment on each robbery count and 10 years imprisonment on each aggravated assault count, all sentences to be served concurrently. His sole argument on appeal is that the sentences imposed on the aggravated assault charges should be vacated as violative of the “single transaction rule”.

On April 29, 1975, Mark Scalf and Mark Bourne, a pair of vacationing senior high school students, were hitchhiking at approximately 11:00 p. m. Appellant obligingly stopped his automobile and picked up the two youths, but shortly thereafter again stopped the car and, pointing a hunting knife at Scalf’s throat, demanded that Scalf and Bourne give him all their money. The two complied forthwith and were soon allowed to exit the automobile. At trial, both Scalf and Bourne identified appellant as the robber. Scalf was also asked by defense counsel whether defendant made any threatening statements other than when he had the knife in his hand. Scalf replied, “no sir.”

Under the facts as revealed by the record, we are compelled to agree with appellant’s assertion that the robberies and the aggravated assaults occurred as part of the same criminal transaction.

We have reached a different conclusion in dissimilar factual contexts. For instance, in Robinson v. State, Fla.App. 1st 1975, 323 So. 2d 62, a five year sentence for aggravated assault was vacated initially, but was reinstated on rehearing when it was called to our attention that the defendant in that case was charged in one count with robbery of one person, but was charged in a different count with aggravated assault upon a second person. In a more factually analogous case, Booth v. State, Fla.App. 1st 1976, 332 So. 2d 157, the defendant was convicted of two counts of robbery and two counts of assault with intent to commit murder in the second degree. In that case, two victims were involved. As to the first victim, a store manager, we held that there was a temporal distinction between the robbery and the assault. As to the second victim, a store patron, we said, quoting language from Hernandez v. State, Fla.App. 2d 1973, 278 So. 2d 307, “ * * * Booth’s attempt to kill the patron was independent of and qualitatively other than an effort to force the surrender of his money. Booth’s frenzied attempt to kill was not ‘essential to the robbery’; it cannot be said that ‘all the evidence concerning such assault related to the elements of force and fear embraced within the aforesaid robbery’.” (Booth v. State, supra at 159)

The case sub judice is distinguishable from Booth v. State, supra. We have found no temporal distinction between the robbery and the aggravated assault: Nor is there in the record any evidence that appellant employed any threats of violence other than that which was necessary to accomplish the robbery. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment as to the convictions for robbery and aggravated assault, but vacate the sentences for aggravated assault.

Affirmed in part; reversed in part; and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

RAWLS and McCORD, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Douglas v. State, 349 So. 2d 694 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)
    …the facts of this case, as related in our opinion in the previous appeal of this case, the two offenses were one single criminal transaction inflicted upon Sieracki. Thus, it was error to sentence appellant for both offenses. Compare Pate v. State, 338 So. 2d 1331 (Fla. 1 DCA 1976). Ordinarily, the sentence should be upon the higher of the two offenses, but here at the time of the sentence of appellant on Count II (assault with intent to commit second degree murder) the trial court had dismissed the robbery c…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw