Thomas HEDDLESON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
*958 Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Margaret Good, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Jr., Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Richard G. Bartmon, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied October 14, 1987.
WALDEN, Judge.
Appellant, Thomas Heddleson, appeals his conviction and sentence for kidnapping and sexual battery. He raises eight issues on appeal. After carefully considering all of the issues raised, we choose to address the following three.
First, appellant asserts that the trial judge's remarks to the jury were improper and constituted reversible error. We find merit in this argument.
In the instant case, the state advised the court that the trial would take four days. When it became apparent that the trial would take longer than expected, the trial judge, over objections from appellant's counsel, made the following statements to the jury:
*959 If we come to the time that our contemplated trial time with regard to this matter is over and should I declare a mistrial because we have not completed it within that time, or should I have to declare a mistrial because one or more of you all cannot be here next week, in all likelihood this case will be at an end and it will not be retried or rescheduled, and the period of time we have thus far involved in this case will, insofar as we are all concerned, be an experience and that will be the extent of it.
There will not be a determination at that point by you all or anyone else, possibly, of the issues involved in the case.
We find that these statements constitute, in effect, an impermissible Allen charge[1] to the jury, by demanding that the jury reach a verdict, even before all of the evidence had been presented and before the jury indicated that they would not reach a verdict. See Kozakoff v. State,
Second, appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying his requested jury instruction on voluntary intoxication. We agree that such instruction should have been given, but only for the kidnapping charge.
Voluntary intoxication is a defense to a specific intent crime. Mullin v. State,
As for the kidnapping charge, the appellant was entitled to an instruction on his voluntary intoxication defense, if there was some evidence to support it. See Mullins; and Pope v. State,
In the instant case, we find that there was some evidence introduced to support the appellant's requested jury instruction. The victim testified that during the night in question, the appellant smoked marijuana and consumed about five mixed drinks. She also testified that she asked appellant to dance at one of the bars, because he looked like he was getting drunk at the time. In addition, she admitted that she told a detective that appellant was "smashed" when he left the bar.
When there is some evidence introduced to support an instruction on the theory of a defense, it is error for the trial court to fail to give the requested jury instruction. Hudson v. State,
Finally, the trial court erred in departing from the sentencing guidelines on the basis that the appellant was an habitual felony offender. See Whitehead v. State,
*960 Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial in accordance with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HERSEY, C.J., and DELL, J., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] Allen v. United States,
