Title: Carter v. State

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

384 So. 2d 1255 (1980)
T.R. CARTER, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. 56084.

Supreme Court of Florida.
May 1, 1980.
Rehearing Denied July 21, 1980.
Richard A. Kupfer, David Roth and Robert Q. Wyokoff, Jr. of Cone, Owen, Wagner, Nugent, Johnson, Hazouri & Roth, West Palm Beach, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Marc E. Kirk and Max Rudmann, Asst. Attys. Gen., West Palm Beach, and David H. Bludworth, State's Atty., and Barry Krischer, Asst. State's Atty., West Palm Beach, for respondent.
*1256 McDONALD, Justice.
This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review a decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, in State v. Carter, 364 So. 2d 1249 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), which is in apparent conflict with Brannen v. State, 94 Fla. 656, 114 So. 429 (1927). This Court has jurisdiction.[1]
The facts are fully stated in the trial judge's order in which he concluded as a matter of law that Dr. Carter was not guilty of perjury. That order reads as follows:
The district court of appeal reversed that order. It felt it significant that Dr. Carter may have made the correction because he knew that the falsity of a prior statement might be discovered. In stating that recantation is not a viable defense when it is made after it has become manifest that such falsity has been or will be exposed, the district court engraved an exception upon the rule of law declared in Brannen that was not intended and that should not be perpetuated. There are some jurisdictions that rule differently on this issue[2] but the policy reasons to faithfully adhere to Brannen[3] are sound.
Dr. Carter corrected the facts he had related in his deposition promptly and voluntarily. *1258 He gained nothing from the false statement made.[4] No one was prejudiced by his false statement and the proceedings were not affected thereby. His subsequent testimony was consistent with the recanted version. Under these circumstances the fear of being caught should not vitiate the defense of recantation.
We adopt the order of the trial judge and the dissenting opinion of Judge Cross[5] as being correct in this cause. In doing so, we specifically hold that section 837.021(1), Florida Statutes, has not abolished the defense of recantation. Accordingly, the opinion of the Fourth District Court of Appeal is quashed, with directions to reinstate the order of the trial judge dismissing this action.
ENGLAND, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, OVERTON and SUNDBERG, JJ., concur.
ALDERMAN, J., dissents with an opinion.
ALDERMAN, Justice, dissenting.
I would approve the decision of the district court. In my opinion, the trial court's order granting Dr. Carter's motion to dismiss the information was in error. As stated by the district court:
364 So. 2d  at 1250.
It may be that the false deposition testimony by Dr. Carter was inadvertent and without criminal intent. Likewise, his subsequent recantation of the false statement may have been a good faith attempt on his part to retract a knowingly false statement and to make a new statement disclosing the true facts before the perjured testimony had substantially affected the proceeding or before it had become manifest that such falsity had been or would be exposed. These, however, are factual issues and should be resolved by a jury rather than by the trial court on a motion to dismiss.
[1]  Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.
[2]  60 Am.Jur.2d Perjury § 47.
[3]  judicial investigation or trial has for its sole object the ascertainment of the truth, that justice may be done. It holds out every inducement to a witness to tell the truth by inflicting severe penalties upon those who do not. This inducement would be destroyed if a witness could not correct a false statement except by running the risk of being indicted and convicted for perjury." People v. Gillette, 126 App.Div. 665, 111 N.Y.S. 133. "The law encourages the correction of erroneous and even intentionally false statements on the part of a witness, and perjury will not be predicated upon such statements when the witness, before the submission of the case, fully corrects his testimony." People v. Brill, 100 Misc.Rep. 92, 165 N.Y.S. 65.
94 Fla. at 663, 114 So.  at 431.
[4]  As contrasted to Sherman v. State, 135 Fla. 243, 184 So. 843 (1938).
[5]  364 So. 2d  at 1250.