Francisco HERNANDEZ, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
*1322 Douglas N. Duncan of Wagner, Nugent, Johnson, Roth, Romano, Eriksen and Kupfer, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallаhassee, and John M. Koenig, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
The appellant, Francisco Hernandez, aрpeals his convictions for two counts of lewd act and one lewd assault. He contends that the trial court erred by allowing оpinion testimony as to the victim's veracity, allowing testimony of a prior act of similar misconduct, failing to correctly instruct the jury оn lewd assault, and denying his new trial motion to vacate one of the two lewd act convictions. We agree and reverse.
Thе victims, two girls, ten and eleven-years-old, were playing in a public library garden. Both girls testified that the appellant, a gardener, exposed his penis and masturbated in front of them. They additionally testified that Hernandez lifted up one of the girl's shirts and fondled her breasts. The state charged Hernandez with one count of lewd assault by fondling a child's breasts and two counts of lewd act by exposing himself and mаsturbating in front of the two girls. At trial, the trial court allowed two police officers and one teacher to testify as to the victim's truthfulnеss. Additionally, the trial court admitted testimony that another child observed Hernandez attempt to fondle one of the victim's breast the prior spring. Hernandez testified that the allegations were false and that he knew the girls because he frequently chased them оut of the garden.
We agree with Hernandez's assertion that trial court erred in allowing opinion testimony as to the victim's veracity. A witnеss invades the jury's exclusive province when that witness gives his or her personal views of the creditability of any other witness. Boatwright v. State,
According to the court in Fuente v. State,
We also conclude that the trial court committed fundamental error in failing to corrеctly reinstruct the jury on lewd assault. The state concedes that the trial court's initial instruction incorrectly combined both lewd act and lewd assault. But, the defense counsel waived any objection to the initial instruction and requested the trial court not to reinstruct the jury. However, after the initial instruction, the jury requested a reinstruction on lewd assault. Thereafter, the trial court instead of instructing thе jury as to lewd assault instructed them only as to lewd act. Fundamental error occurs "only when an omission or error in the definition of a crime is pertinent or material to what must actually be considered by the jury in order to convict." Williams v. State,
We find Lifka v. State,
One reason for charging assault under section 800.04(1) rather a lewd act under section 800.04(3) may be that a charge of lewd assault focuses on the person assaulted so that a separate charge would lie as to each victim on both occasions, supporting a total of four felony charges; whereas a charge of committing a lewd act in the presencе of a child focuses on the commission of the lewd act whether in the presence of one or more children, thus, limiting the number оf offenses that could be charged to one count for each separate incident. (emphasis supplied)
Cf. Bergen v. State,
In conclusion, we hold that the cumulative effect of the errors presented denied appellant a fair trial and accordingly warrants a new trial. Ryan v. State,
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL.
GUNTHER J., and SHAHOOD, GEORGE A., Associate Judge, concur.
POLEN, J., concurs in part, dissents in part with opinion.
POLEN, Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with all of the majority opinion except the issue pertaining to whether the appellant could properly be convicted of two lewd acts under the facts presented. I would reject the first district's holding in Lifka v. State,
