Norman Gary BILLIOT, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and David P. Gauldin, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Edward C. Hill, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
KAHN, Judge.
Appellant Norman Gary Billiot appeals from a judgment and sentence for first degree burglary with a battery, two counts of aggravated battery, and two counts of aggravated assault. He raises two issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in enhancing his sentence pursuant to section 775.0845, Florida Statutes for use of a mask *1278 during commission of the assaults in counts 5 and 6 where the information did not charge that he wore a mask during the commission of those offenses; and (2) whether his convictions for both the first degree burglary and the two aggravated batteries violated the prohibition against double jeopardy. We affirm on both issues.
The trial court did not commit reversible error by enhancing appellant's sentence for use of a mask. The case law has allowed a plea to supply the missing elements from an indictment or information. See Shanklin v. State,
Here, the information likewise was implicitly amended. The trial court stated:
THE COURT: In Counts 5 and 6, you are charged with aggravated assault with a firearm on an elderly person with a mask during the commission of the offense. Again those two offenses are 30 year felonies or maximum sentence of possibly 30 years along with a $10,000 fine, and a three-year mandatory minimum sentence along with 500 hours of community service work being imposed in addition to the state prison sentence.
Do you understand those are possible or potential sentences?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
The court specifically advised appellant that he was charged with the use of a mask. The plea which appellant signed also listed counts 5 and 6 as "aggravated assault with a firearm on an elderly person with a mask...." At the plea hearing and in the agreement, appellant admitted his multiple offenses and stipulated that there was a sufficient factual basis for the plea.
Criminal procedure rules are not intended to furnish a procedural device to escape justice. Stang v. State,
On the second issue, we affirm both the first degree burglary conviction and the aggravated battery convictions. Section 775.021(4)(a) and (b), Florida Statutes, provide:
(4)(a) Whoever, in the course of one criminal transaction or episode, commits an act or acts which constitute one or more separate criminal offenses, upon conviction and adjudication of guilt, shall be sentenced separately for each criminal offense; and the sentencing judge may order the sentences to be served concurrently or consecutively. For the purpose of this subsection, offenses are separate if each offense requires proof of an element that the other *1279 does not, without regard to the accusatory pleading or the proof adduced at trial. (b) The intent of the Legislature is to convict and sentence for each criminal offense committed in the course of one criminal episode or transaction and not to allow the principle of lenity as set forth in subsection (1) to determine legislative intent. Exceptions to this rule of construction are:
1. Offenses which require identical elements of proof.
2. Offenses which are degrees of the same offense as provided by statute.
3. Offenses which are lesser offenses the statutory elements of which are subsumed by the greater offense.
Aggravated battery and first degree burglary do not require identical elements of proof, are not degrees of the same offense and do not fall within category three as lesser offenses the statutory elements of which are subsumed by the greater. But see Whatley v. State,
There are numerous cases holding that simple battery is a lesser included offense of burglary with a battery because the elements of simple battery are subsumed in the first degree burglary charge. See, e.g., Bronson v. State,
In Gaber v. State, the supreme court faced an analogous situation.
We respectfully disagree with Crawford v. State in which our sister court held that convictions for both aggravated battery and first degree burglary arising out of the same factual event are improper under 775.021(4)(b).
Aggravated battery and first degree burglary do not require identical elements of proof and are not degrees of the same offense. As we have stated above, aggravated battery, as opposed to simple battery, does not constitute a lesser offense the statutory elements of which are subsumed by the greater offense of first degree burglary.
AFFIRMED.
MINER and ALLEN, JJ., concur.
