CRAIG HORNSBY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1977-12-14
No. EE-164
BOYER and SMITH, JJ., concur.
352 So. 2d 954 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1977) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 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

Hornsby was charged with entering without breaking with intent to commit petit larceny but was convicted of the lesser included offense of trespass. The court reversed his conviction because he was convicted of a crime not charged in the information, holding that trespass required proof of malicious and mischievous intent under the applicable statute at the time of the offense, which was neither alleged nor proved.


Holding

The court held that Hornsby's conviction must be reversed because he was convicted of a crime not charged in the information. Although Hornsby failed to object at trial, the error was fundamental because trespass under the applicable statute (Section 821.18, Fla.Stat. [1973]) required proof of malicious and mischievous intent that was neither alleged in the charging information nor proved at trial.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant may be convicted of a lesser included offense not explicitly charged in the information if the evidence supports such a conviction.

[2] A conviction for a crime not charged in the information constitutes fundamental error, even if no objection was made to the jury instructions at trial.

Previewing 2 of 5 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

“The defendants were convicted of a crime not charged in the informations. This is fundamental error.”

Establishes that conviction of an uncharged crime constitutes fundamental error that cannot be waived by failure to object at trial

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

Hornsby was charged by amended information filed May 23, 1975, with entering without breaking with intent to commit petit larceny (Count I), possessio…

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
RAWLS, Acting Chief Judge.

RAWLS, Acting Chief Judge.

By an amended information filed May 23, 1975, Hornsby was charged in Count I with entering without breaking with intent to commit a misdemeanor, to-wit: petit larceny, contrary to F.S. 810.03; in Count II with possession of more than five grams of cannabis; and in Count III with conspiracy to commit the felony of entering without breaking with intent to commit petit larceny. Hornsby was charged with having committed the offenses on July 3,1974. On October 29, 1976, after a trial by jury, Hornsby was found guilty of the lesser included offense of trespassing as to Count I and not guilty as to Counts II and III.

As grounds for reversal, Hornsby argues that: 1) he was convicted of a crime that he was not charged with committing, and 2) his failure to object to the jury instruction on the crime for which he was convicted does not now prevent him from raising the issue on appeal, because the error complained of is fundamental.

In 1974, the legislature enacted the Florida Criminal Code which became effective July 1, 1975. This legislation, inter alia created Section 810.08, Florida Statutes (1975), “Trespass in Structure or Conveyance”, which provides, in part: “A person trespasses if he wilfully enters any structure or conveyance of another without being authorized, licensed, or invited.” The offense is a misdemeanor of the second degree, unless the trespasser is armed or the structure or conveyance is occupied by a human being in which case the offense is a first degree misdemeanor. Chapter 810, Florida Statutes (1975), covers the general area of the offenses of burglary and trespass; however, prior to July 1, 1975, the effective date of the Florida Criminal Code, there was no mention of trespass in Chapter 810, Florida Statutes (1973), which was titled simply “Burglary”. Rather, trespass, or “malicious” trespass, which is apparently the offense Hornsby was convicted of, was to be found in Chapter 821, Florida Statutes (1973), which was entitled “Trespass and Injury to Realty and Similar Offenses” and which described numerous trespasses to realty, the majority of which related to the taking of wildlife, timber and farm and grove products from the property of another without his permission. The only subsection of Chapter 821 remotely applicable to the actions of Hornsby is Section 821.18, Florida Statutes (1973), which provided:

“Other trespasses. — -Every trespass upon the property of another, committed with a malicious and mischievous intent, the punishment of which is not specially provided for, shall be guilty of a misdemean-or of the second degree . . . .” (emphasis supplied)

Section 821.18, Florida Statutes (1973), along with the remainder of Chapter 821, was repealed by the Florida Criminal Code effective July 1, 1975.

The major crime that Hornsby was charged by information with having committed is found in Section 810.03, Florida Statutes (1973): “Entering without breaking. — Whoever enters without breaking any dwelling house, or any of the buildings or structures mentioned in §§ 810.01 and 810.02 . shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree . . . .”

Section 810.03, Florida Statutes (1973), was repealed on July 1, 1975, and its proscribed offense was incorporated in the definition of “burglary” (Section 810.02, Fla.Stat. ).

Thus, on the date of Hornsby’s trial in October, 1976, for offenses charged to have been committed on July 3, 1974, Section 810.03, Florida Statutes (1973), had been repealed for more than a year as well as Section 821.18, Florida Statutes (1973), which proscribed “other trespasses” to realty.

At trial, the court instructed on trespass as follows:

“Now, I neglected to instruct you as to one other lesser included offense. Within the general crime of entering without breaking it necessarily includes within it trespass. Now, let me instruct you as to the law of trespass.

“It is a crime of trespass to a structure for any person to wilfully enter any structure without being authorized, licensed, or invited by the owner or occupant. Now, the essential elements of this offense which must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt before there can be a conviction in this case are that, one, Craig Hornsby did enter the structure described in this information; that such structure was owned by the Clerk of the Circuit Court or the County Commissioners of Leon County; that such entry was without the permission, express or implied, by the Clerk of the Circuit Court or the County Commission of Leon County and that such entry was wilful.”

Not only did defense counsel not object to the above instruction,1 but he specifically approved all the instructions given when questioned by the trial court.

When a statute makes the criminality of an act depend on the intent with which it was committed, criminal intent must be alleged in the accusation and proved at trial. In Sheffield v. State, 90 So. 2d 449 (Fla.1956), the Supreme Court addressed this issue, viz:

“Section 590.28, Florida Statutes 1955, F.S.A., by its terms expressly requires a specific criminal intent to damage or destroy property of another. It further provides that such intent must be engendered ‘by malice or spite or by the hope of material gain or employment to be derived either directly or indirectly’. No such specific intent is alleged or proved in the instant case.”

See also Harris v. State, 93 So. 2d 725 (Fla. 1957).

Here, the only criminal trespass applicable at the time of Hornsby’s offense was found in Section 821.18, Florida Statutes (1973). Further, this section specifically provided that the trespass upon the property of another be committed with a malicious and mischievous intent”. Malicious and mischievous intent was neither alleged in the charging information nor proved at trial.

The state argues that since Hornsby did not object to the trespass instruction as given by the trial court, he has not preserved the right to argue this point on appeal. The state’s position must be rejected for the reasons stated in Haley v. State, 315 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1975), viz: “The state argues that appellants waived this issue because the record fails to reveal a timely objection to the jury instructions. This case does not merely involve erroneous instructions. The defendants were convicted of a crime not charged in the informations. This is fundamental error. . . . ”

The judgment appealed is reversed with directions that Hornsby be discharged.

BOYER and SMITH, JJ., concur. . The instruction on trespass, which was read to Hornsby’s jury, is substantially similar to the standard jury instruction corresponding to Section 810.08, Fla.Stat. (1975). This instruction was approved for use and publication by the Florida Supreme Court in In the Matter of the Use by the Trial Courts of the Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, Case No. 48,-491, opinion filed February 4, 1976. It is noted that the previous set of Standard Jury Instructions approved May 27, 1970, did not contain an instruction which corresponded to Section 821.18, Fla.Stat. (1973), although it did contain an instruction on malice which was to be used only when trespass with malice was charged in the information or indictment and which, additionally, was only applicable to Section 821.28, Fla.Stat. (1973), which prescribed the penalties for injuring flowers, removing natural products, or molesting game or fish on the property of state institutions.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Vogel v. State, 365 So. 2d 1079 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979)
    …r has been defined as error which goes to the foundation of the case or goes to the merits of the cause of action. (Sanford v. Rubin, 237 So. 2d 134 (Fla.1970)) We are of the view that that doctrine is applicable sub judice. (c. f. Hornsby v. State, 352 So. 2d 954 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)) Although the Supreme Court did not announce in State v. Thomas, supra, whether that decision should be given retrospective or prospective application, we apply it retrospectively. Judicial conscience cannot allow a person to re…
  • Rawls v. State, 386 So. 2d 875 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Odom v. State, 375 So. 2d 1079 (Fla.1st DCA 1979); Blow v. State, 386 So. 2d 872, no. MM-60 (Fla.1st DCA, August 15, 1980). But see Hornsby v. State, 352 So. 2d 954 (Fla.1st DCA 1977). ERVIN, BOOTH, LARRY G. SMITH, JJ., concur.…
  • Blow v. State, 386 So. 2d 872 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)
    …ERVIN, Judge, specially concurring. I concur because the result is required by the latest expression from this court in Odom v. State, 375 So. 2d 1079 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). Odom, however, appears to conflict with Hornsby v. State, 352 So. 2d 954 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977), although it did not expressly overrule Hornsby. Hornsby was charged with entering without breaking with intept to commit a misdemeanor. His attorney requested the erroneous charge on the lesser offense of trespass which included…

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw