KELLY A. THOMAS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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.
Kelly Thomas appealed her DUI convictions, challenging the trial court's denial of her motion to suppress blood alcohol test results obtained from medical records and her motion for judgment of acquittal on the serious bodily injury charge. The court affirmed both convictions, finding the medical records were properly obtained via subpoena and that Thomas waived any error regarding the lesser-included offense instruction.
The court affirmed the trial court's denial of the motion to suppress because the State complied with the statutory notice requirement and Thomas failed to object to the subpoena; the officer's initial verbal request to the nurse did not warrant exclusion of the subsequently obtained medical records. The court also affirmed the serious bodily injury conviction because Thomas waived any error by failing to timely object to the lesser-included offense instruction at trial.
[1] A law enforcement officer's failure to request a blood draw does not affect the admissibility of blood withdrawn for medical purposes.
[2] Governmental misconduct must be significant to warrant the exclusion of medical records obtained via a valid subpoena.
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“the failure of a law enforcement officer to request the withdrawal of blood shall not affect the admissibility of a test of blood withdrawn for medical purposes”
Establishes that even if the officer failed to comply with proper procedures for requesting a blood test, medical records containing blood test results remain admissible.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThomas was involved in an accident and taken to a hospital where a blood test was performed for medical purposes. An investigating officer obtained th…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Medical Records cases and more on FLexlaw
FULMER, Judge.
Kelly Thomas appeals her convictions for driving under the influence (DUI) with serious bodily injury1 and DUI with personal injury.2 As to both convictions Thomas argues that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress the blood alcohol test results obtained for medical purposes. She also argues that the trial court erred in denying her renewed motion for judgment of acquittal as to the DUI with serious bodily injury conviction. We affirm.
At trial, the primary evidence presented to support the DUI in both offenses was the blood alcohol content of Thomas’s blood drawn for medical purposes! This information was contained in Thomas’s medical records at the hospital, where she was taken immediately after the accident which gave rise to the charges. Thomas moved to suppress the results of the blood test on the ground that they were first obtained by the investigating officer interrogating the nurse who attended Thomas without Thomas’s consent and without a subpoena or proper notice. Thomas also moved -to suppress the same blood test results contained in Thomas’s medical records which the State obtained pursuant to a subpoena. Thomas contended the subpoena was issued in violation of section 395.3025, Florida Statutes (1999).
In its order denying the motion to suppress, the trial court determined that the State complied with the notice requirement of section 395.3025(4)(d) and that Thomas was given a reasonable period of time within which to object to the issuance of the subpoena, but failed to do so.
We agree with the trial court’s ruling.
Furthermore, the fact that the officer initially requested and obtained, from the medical staff, the blood alcohol content of the blood drawn in the course of Thomas’s treatment, instead of specifically requesting a blood draw pursuant to section 316.1933(1), does not warrant exclusion of the medical records subsequently obtained pursuant to the State’s subpoena. On the facts of this case, we conclude that the officer would have been authorized to request a blood draw. And, pursuant to section 316.1933(2)(a), “the failure of a law enforcement officer to request the withdrawal of blood shall not affect the admissibility of a test of blood withdrawn for medical purposes.” Moreover, even if we concluded that the officer did not have probable cause to request a blood test pursuant to section 316.1933(1), on this record, the officer’s verbal request for the nurse to tell him the blood test results does not constitute the type of governmental misconduct that would warrant exclusion of the medical records subsequently obtained through the State’s subpoena issued after proper notice to Thomas. See State v. Johnson, 814 So. 2d 390 (Fla.2002).
Therefore, we affirm the denial of the motion to suppress and the admission into evidence of the medical records.
We also affirm the trial court’s denial of Thomas’s renewed motion for judgment of acquittal as to the DUI with serious bodily injury conviction, which is a permissive lesser-included offense of DUI manslaughter originally charged in count I of the information. Thomas argues that the trial court erred by giving the jury an instruction on this permissive lesser-included offense because the information did not allege serious bodily injury and the State did not present evidence to establish that essential element.
We agree that the information does not allege all of the statutory elements of this permissive lesser-included offense. We also agree that the State failed to prove the element of serious bodily injury.
Nevertheless, we affirm the conviction because we conclude that Thomas waived the error. In Ray v. State, 403 So. 2d 956 (Fla.1981), the supreme court held:
[I]t is not fundamental error to convict a defendant under an erroneous lesser included charge when he had an opportunity to object to the charge and failed to do so if:
1) the improperly charged offense is lesser in degree and penalty than the main offense or 2) defense counsel requested the improper charge or relied on that charge as evidenced by argument to the jury or other affirmative action. Failure to timely object precludes relief from such a conviction.
Here, Thomas neither requested the instruction nor affirmatively relied on it.
Therefore, she may challenge her conviction unless she failed to object to the instruction. In the course of posttrial motion proceedings, a dispute arose regarding whether Thomas objected to the instruction during an unrecorded discussion at the end of the first day of trial.
The trial court held an evidentiary hear ing, ordered a transcript of the charge conference that took place on the second day, and subsequently entered its order denying the motion for renewed judgment of acquittal. In its order, the trial court made a finding that Thomas failed to object to the instruction. Based on the trial court’s finding of fact that no objection was made, and, pursuant to Ray, Thomas is precluded from now challenging her conviction for DUI with serious bodily injury.
Accordingly, we affirm the convictions for DUI with serious bodily injury and DUI with personal injury.
However, we remand for correction of the judgment on count II which erroneously reflects that Thomas was adjudicated guilty of DUI with serious bodily injury as opposed to DUI with personal injury, the offense charged in the information and selected by the jury on the verdict form.
Affirmed and remanded for correction of a scrivener’s error. NORTHCUTT, J., and DANAHY, PAUL W., Senior Judge, concur. . § 316.193(3)(c)(2), Fla. Stat. (1999).
. § 316.193(3)(c)(l), Fla. Stat. (1999).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- RAY v. State, 403 So. 2d 956 (Fla. 1981)
- State v. Zina Johnson, 814 So. 2d 390 (Fla. 2002)