Mark Miles was charged with domestic battery by strangulation,
Miles was romantically involved with the victim, living with her in her apartment. When the relationship deteriorated, the victim requested Miles move out. To help facilitate the move, the victim loaned Miles her car and debit card. Instead of moving out, Miles purchased beer, and when the victim returned home, she found Miles watching television and drinking. A heated discussion ensued, during which Miles pushed the victim down onto a couch. She testified Miles grabbed her face and ultimately placed a pillow over it, making breathing difficult, before he placed his hands around her neck. The victim was able to extract herself from Miles’ assault, whereupon he left the apartment.
In analyzing the double jeopardy claim, this Court must first determine whether the batteries were part of a separate episode or transaction. If so, double jeopardy is not an issue. To determine whether an offense occurred during the same criminal transaction, courts examine “whether there are multiple victims, whether the offenses occurred in multiple locations, and whether there has been a ‘temporal break’ between the offenses.” Staley v. State,
Next, we look to section 775.021(4)(a), Florida Statutes (2011), to determine whether separate sentences are authorized for each of the battery convictions. That statute provides:
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*664 sentenced separately for each criminal offense; and the sentencing judge may order the sentences to be served concurrently or consecutively. For the purposes of this subsection, offenses are separate if each offense requires proof of an element that the other does not, without regard to the accusatory pleading or the proof adduced at trial.
§ 775.021(4)(a), Fla. Stat. For offenses that satisfy this test, multiple punishments are allowed unless one of three exceptions applies:
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.
§ 775.021(4)(b), Fla. Stat.
In this case, Miles was convicted of two counts of the same statute — section 784.03(l)(a), Florida Statutes. Clearly, the two batteries require identical elements of proof. Citing State v. Meshell,
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Notes
. § 784.041(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (2010).
. Although the information charged Miles with "Battety-Domestic Violence,” it references section 784.03(l)(a), Florida Statutes (2010) — the battery statute — as well as provisions within the marriage and domestic violence chapter of the Florida Statutes.
. § 741.29(6), Fla. Stat. (2010). On the morning of trial, however, the State entered a nolle prosequi on the violation of condition of release charge.
. Miles’ claim of self-defense was rejected by the jury.
