House v. StateHouse v. State
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Edward Lee Giles, Special Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Richard E. Doran, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and William I. Munsey, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
WHATLEY, Judge.
Lovy House appeals his convictions and sentences of several offenses arising out of his driving a stolen car that was involved in a fatal collision. We reverse House‘s conviction of third-degree murder.
The record shows that on August 26, 2001, Emma Sanders rented a Dodge Intrepid
Valecia Sampson lived just south of the intersection at which the collision occurred. She described the area as a residential neighborhood. She saw the Intrepid traveling at “a very high rate of speed” that was unusual for the neighborhood, and she saw it swerve in an attempt to avoid hitting Rogers’ car at the intersection. House had the right of way at the intersection. Sampson could not see Rogers’ car because of a large tree blocking her view. She said that trees blocked drivers’ views from both directions at the intersection and that drivers coming from Rogers’ direction had to pull past the stop sign to see oncoming traffic. Sampson has witnessed quite a few accidents at that intersection, most of which were fender benders.
The evidence revealed that the Intrepid was stolen by someone prying the door lock, popping the ignition, and using a blunt object to start the car.
Detective David Puig, who is assigned to the hit and run traffic homicide squad, testified as an expert in accident reconstruction and speed calculation.1 He stated that the speed limit along Central Avenue at the site of the collision was thirty miles per hour. The Intrepid was traveling at approximately sixty miles per hour before the collision. There were skid marks for approximately forty-seven feet before the point of impact, which was more or less in the middle of the intersection. Puig estimated that due to his braking, House was driving at a minimum of fifty miles per hour at the time of impact. The victim‘s vehicle was traveling at approximately ten to fifteen miles per hour. The day was hot, dry, and clear. The collision occurred about a half a mile and less than a minute from the intersection where House side-swiped Brown‘s vehicle.
Based on these facts, the State charged House with third-degree murder of Rogers, vehicular homicide of Rogers, grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of a conveyance, operating a vehicle without a valid driver‘s license and causing death or serious bodily injury, and leaving the scene of a crash. A jury found House guilty as charged.2
We agree with House that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal of the charge of third-degree murder. Consistent with the third-degree murder statute,
“In any felony murder conviction the element of causation, i.e. [sic] that the homicide was committed in the perpetration of the felony, must be established.” Allen v. State, 690 So. 2d 1332, 1334 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997). Stated another way, the State must prove that there was no break in the chain of circumstances beginning with the felony and ending with the murder. Parker v. State, 641 So. 2d 369 (Fla. 1994). Here, the State presented no evidence of when House came into possession of the Intrepid, which was discovered missing nearly six hours before the fatal collision. Consequently, “[t]he State did not prove that the grand theft and the homicide bore a sufficient connection ‘in point of time, place, or causal relationship’ to support” House‘s conviction of third-degree murder. Lester v. State, 737 So. 2d 1149, 1152 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (quoting Allen, 690 So. 2d at 1334).
The State argues that grand theft is a continuing offense and that the theft of the Intrepid began right before House grazed Brown‘s vehicle. We agree with the Fourth District‘s sound rejection of this argument in State v. Williams, 776 So. 2d 1066 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001):
[F]or the felony murder statute to apply when the underlying felony is theft, a “court must determine whether the killing is closely connected to the initial taking of the property in time, place, causation, and continuity of action.”
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If the [felony murder] rule is to have any deterrent effect, it must not be extended to killings which are collateral to and separate from the underlying felony. Moreover, requiring a close nexus between the initial taking and the killing is particularly appropriate given that the felony murder rule is “a legal fiction in which the intent and the malice to commit the underlying felony is ‘transferred’ to elevate an unintentional killing to ... murder.”
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If, as the state contends, grand theft is an offense that continues throughout a defendant‘s unauthorized use, it would follow that a prosecution could commence ten years after the initial taking, so long as the defendant were caught using the property ten years later. However, we have held that grand theft is not a continuing offense for the purpose of the statute of limitations.... Acceptance of the continuing crime argument in this case would create an anomaly—a defendant could be charged with third degree felony murder even where the statute of limitations would preclude prosecution for the underlying felony of grand theft.
Id. at 1072 (quoting State v. Pierce, 23 S.W.3d 289, 295, 296 (Tenn. 2000); citations omitted; emphasis in original).
Pursuant to
Accordingly, we reverse House‘s conviction of third-degree murder and remand for resentencing. We affirm House‘s remaining convictions.3
NORTHCUTT and COVINGTON, JJ., concur.