Michael G. LOVETTE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Supreme Court of Florida.
*1305 Clifford H. Barnes, Fort Pierce, for appellant.
Rоbert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Celia A. Terenzio, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
REVISED OPINION
PER CURIAM.
Michael Lovette appeals his convictions and sentences, including three convictions of first-degree murder and three sentences of death. Wе have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm all of Lovette's convictions except the conviction of sexual battery, which we reverse. The sentence for sexual battery and the three death sentences are vacated, and the trial court is directed to empanel a jury and conduct a new sentencing proceeding. The remaining sentences are affirmed.
On May 13, 1988 Lovette and Thomas Wyatt escaped from a North Carolina prison road gang and fled south, stealing cаrs and weapons and robbing people. Armed with handguns, they entered a Domino's pizza store in Vero Beach shortly before closing on May 18, 1988. While Lovette held William Edwards, the store manager, at gunpoint in the office until the safe's time lock oрened, Wyatt took Edwards' wife, Frances, and Matthew Bornoosh, a deliveryman, to another room at the back of the store. Wyatt made Bornoosh remove his Domino's shirt and then gave the shirt to Lovette, who put it on so that anyone seeing him from the outside would think him a Domino's employee.[1]*1306 Wyatt also raped Mrs. Edwards in the back room of the store while Lovette waited for the safe to open. When the safe had been opened, Lovette took Edwards part way back through the store, where Wyatt met them and took Edwards to the rear of the store. According to Lovette's statements to authorities, he thought that Wyatt was going to lock the three captives in a closet so that they could make their getaway. Instead, Lоvette heard three or four quick pistol shots. Wyatt ran out of the back of the store, and he and Lovette fled in their stolen car. On May 19 or 20 Wyatt killed Cathy Nydeggar, a Tampa woman who picked them up, and stole her car, after which Lovettе and Wyatt split up. Lovette eventually made his way back to North Carolina where, at his uncle's urging, he surrendered to authorities and confessed. By that time Wyatt had also been apprehended.
In a joint indictment the state charged both Wyatt and Lоvette with four counts of first-degree premeditated murder, sexual battery, three counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery with a firearm, three counts of grand theft, arson, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The trial court sеvered the Nydeggar murder count and the firearm possession count from the others for each defendant and also severed the defendants' trials from one another and transferred Lovette's trial to Pinellas County on a motion for change of venue. The jury convicted Lovette of all counts as charged and recommended that he be sentenced to death for each of the three Domino's murders, which the trial court did.[2]
Lovette first argues that the prosecutor improрerly told the prospective jurors specific facts about the case and lectured them on the law during voir dire. The record, however, shows that the prosecutor answered a general question about various principles of law. See Lavado v. State,
We likewise find no merit to Lovette's argument that instructing the jury on flight constituted reversible error. In Fenelon v. State,
Lovette makes numerous arguments concerning his culpability for acts that Wyatt committed. He first claims that the court erred in refusing to give his requested instruction on independent acts with regards to the three murders. We hold that the court properly denied the instruction.
We have stated that "an act in which a defendant does not participate and which is `outside оf and foreign to, the common design' of the original felonious collaboration may not be used to implicate the nonparticipant in the act." Parker v. State,
*1307 Although Lovette did not fire the shots that killed the victims, he was a willing participant in the armed robbery of the store. These killings lessened the immediate detection of the robbery and apprehension of the perpetrators and, thus, furthered that robbery. There is a causal connection between the robbery and the homicides, and both Lovette and Wyatt are guilty of felony murder. The evidence, therefore, did not support an independent-acts theory as to the murders, and the court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury on such theory.
We also see no error in the trial court's refusal to grant Lovette's motions for judgment of acquittal as to premeditated murder, the robbery of Bornoosh's shirt, and the kidnapping of Bornoosh and Mrs. Edwards. As a principal in the store's robbery, Lovette was guilty of felony murder. That the indictment charged only premeditated murder prоvides no relief because such an indictment allows the state to proceed on either premeditated or felony murder. Bush v. State,
Wyatt robbed Bornoosh of his shirt and gave it to Lovette to wear so that if a passerby saw him at the front of the store Lovette would appear to be a Domino's employee. The robbery of the shirt therefore furthered the underlying robbery of the store. As a principal in robbing the store, Lovette is also guilty of the armed robbery of the shirt. Jacobs.
Lovette was also a principal to the kidnapping of Mrs. Edwards and Bornoosh.[3] According to his statements, he thought that Wyatt was going to lock all three victims in a closet so that they could complete their robbery of the store by leaving undetected. He intendеd that the victims be confined. The movement of the victims was not slight or inconsequential or merely incidental to the robbery; it was not inherent in the robbery; and it made it easier to commit the robbery and lessened the risk of detection. Ferguson v. State,
Lovette also moved for judgment of acquittal as to the sexual battery of Mrs. Edwards. We agree with him that the motion should have been granted. The sexual battery did nothing to further the original felony, i.e., armed robbery of the store. Not only did Lovette not participate in the sexual battery, he was not in the same room as Wyatt and the victim when Wyatt committed the crime. This case is distinguishable from cases such as Newman v. State,
Lovette requested a confidential mental health expert pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.216, and the court appointed Dr. Robert Berland to assist the defense. A defense discovеry response listed Berland as a witness with the words, "penalty phase only," next to his name, but Lovette later decided not to call him at all. During trial, the prosecutor stated his intention of calling Berland to rebut Lovette's statement that he did not go back to where Wyatt held the Domino's victims and did not know what Wyatt was doing to them. Lovette objected *1308 to Berland's being called by the state because 1) the state had not listed him as a witness; 2) he was a confidential expert; 3) his testimony would violate Lovette's fifth amendment rights because he did not give Lovette proper Miranda[5] warnings; and 4) his testimony would violate the attorney/client privilege. The court held a Richardson[6] hearing and, after listening to a proffer from Berland and argument by both sides, held that no discovery violation had occurred, that Berland gave Lovette an adequate Miranda warning, and that Lovette waived the attorney/client privilege. Lovette now argues that the trial court erred in allowing Berland to testify.
We agree that allowing Berlаnd to testify violated Lovette's right not to incriminate himself. In Parkin v. State,
We also agree that the state failed to show a valid waiver of the attorney/client privilege regarding the mental health examination. Rule 3.216(a) codified the holding in Pouncy v. State,
We hold, therefore, that the state cannot elicit specific facts about a crime learned by a confidential expert through an examination of a defendant unless that defendant waives the attorney/client privilege by calling the expert to testify and opens the inquiry to collateral issues.
The defendant took no action that would constitute a waiver, and we hold that the court erred in allowing Berland to testify for the state. In view of the other evidence against Lovette, which is sufficient to affirm all of the convictions except for sexual battery, Berland's testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt as to the guilt phase оf Lovette's trial. We cannot, however, determine that this testimony was also harmless as to the penalty phase. Lawrence v. State,
It is so ordered.
BARKETT, C.J., and OVERTON, McDONALD, SHAW, GRIMES, KOGAN and HARDING, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] Lovette wore the shirt when they left the store and took it off and threw it from the car later during the night.
[2] In his separate trials Wyatt received four death sentences, which are on appeal to this Court. Wyatt v. State, no. 77,666 (Domino's); Wyatt v. State, no. 79,245 (Nydeggar).
[3] Lovette doеs not challenge his conviction of kidnapping Mrs. Edwards. That conviction is supported by competent substantial evidence, and we affirm it.
[4] This statute reads as follows:
Whoever commits any criminal offense against the state, whether felony or misdemeanor, or aids, abеts, counsels, hires, or otherwise procures such offense to be committed, and such offense is committed or is attempted to be committed, is a principal in the first degree and may be charged, convicted, and punished as such, whether he is or is not actually or constructively present at the commission of such offense.
[5] Miranda v. Arizona,
[6] Richardson v. State,
[7] Due to this remand, we do not address the penalty-phase issues raised by Lovette.
