Case Name: Dante DINO, Jr., Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1981-10-13
Citations: 405 So. 2d 213
Docket Number: No. 79-1137
Parties: Dante DINO, Jr., Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before BARKDULL, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 405
Pages: 213–218

Head Matter:
Dante DINO, Jr., Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 79-1137.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Oct. 13, 1981.
Rehearing Denied Nov. 16, 1981.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Peter Raben, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Paul Mendel-son, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before BARKDULL, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

Opinion:
BASKIN, Judge.
Defendant challenges his conviction for first degree murder on the ground that the state failed to prove premeditation. Consequently, he urges us to reduce his conviction either to a lesser degree of homicide or to manslaughter. He also argues that the court erred in refusing to suppress his pretrial statement. He maintains this judicial error must result in reversal of his conviction. We disagree and affirm.
The events surrounding the shooting of Willie Knight signaled disaster. Defendant, a financial backer and coach for a neighborhood boys' baseball league, often invited the members of the team to his home after the games. His wife provided snacks and soft drinks for the boys. Willie Knight was one of defendant Dino's favorites and spent a great deal of time in the Dino home, accepted as part of the family.
During a baseball game earlier in the evening of the shooting, however, defendant took Willie Knight out of the game because he had been misbehaving. He told Willie Knight that he would "never see another baseball in his life." After the game, the team went to defendant Dino's house. Pizzas were ordered and the boys wiled away the time by examining defendant's unloaded guns. When Willie Knight rode up on his bicycle to join the group, defendant Dino pointed a gun at him; Willie Knight ignored the gesture and entered. Later, when another boy arrived at the house, defendant Dino pointed an empty .357 magnum at his head and jokingly accused him of being a burglar, remarking "you can get shot that way." While waiting for Mrs. Dino to return to the house with the pizza, Willie Knight stated that he was going to scare her. Dino told Willie Knight that he would kill him if he did. Knight disregarded the warning and hid, making a noise when Mrs. Dino arrived but failing to frighten her. Shortly thereafter, while everyone was laughing and having a good time, Mrs. Dino went into the kitchen to prepare the pizza. The boys continued to inspect the guns. Defendant Dino walked back into his bedroom and returned to the dining room with a .38 caliber pistol. He walked up to Willie Knight and pointed the pistol at the boy's temple. Without uttering a word, he fired a single shot at a distance of one to three inches from Willie Knight's head. After the shooting, defendant Dino shouted to his wife to call an ambulance. One witness testified that Dino said to the boys, "You did not see nothing", but another witness denied the statement had been made.
When Opa Locka police officers arrived at the Dino home, Dino told Officer Love that while he had been showing the boys his unloaded magnum, Knight picked up a loaded .38, which discharged when he tried to take it away from Knight. It was this statement, later repeated to Detective Majors, which Dino unsuccessfully sought to suppress.
When Detective Majors arrived, Dino was speaking to his attorney on the telephone. The attorney asked Detective Majors to postpone questioning, but Detective Majors replied that delaying the interview would delay the investigation. He invited the attorney to accompany Dino to the police station, but the attorney did not wish to go to the station at that time. Detective Majors informed the attorney that defendant Dino was not a suspect and that if during the interview defendant Dino began to incriminate himself, he would halt the questioning and contact the attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Dino then went to the police station to answer questions.
Detective Majors began to interview Dino. Although Dino had consumed four or five valium tablets during the preceding two hours, Detective Majors felt that Dino was alert and sufficiently attentive to answer questions. During the questioning, defendant Dino repeated his statement that the loaded .38 discharged as he reached to take it from Willie Knight. Because defendant Dino appeared to become drowsy and inattentive, Detective Majors ended the interview and permitted him to return home.
In a pretrial Motion to Suppress, defendant Dino challenged the voluntariness of the statement he had made to Detective Majors asserting that at the time he made the statement he was disoriented by the valium and insane. He also maintained that he had been deprived of his right to counsel. The trial court denied the motion, finding that Dino was neither insane nor psychotic when he made the statement.
In order to find that defendant Dino shot Willie Knight with premeditation, we must determine whether, at the time of the killing, he had a settled and fixed purpose to take Willie Knight's life. McCutchen v. State, 96 So.2d 152 (Fla. 1957). Premeditation may be established by circumstantial evidence. Phippen v. State, 389 So.2d 991 (Fla. 1980); Tedder v. State, 322 So.2d 908 (Fla. 1975); Spinkellink v. State, 313 So.2d 666 (Fla. 1975); Perez v. State, 371 So.2d 714 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979).
While we cannot discern a motive for defendant Dino to have killed Willie Knight, lack of motive does not negate premeditation. Daniels v. State, 108 So.2d 755 (Fla. 1959).
An intent to kill need not be conceived at any particular time before the commission of the act for it to constitute premeditation. McCutchen v. State, supra; O'Bryan v. State, 300 So.2d 323 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974). Premeditation may be inferred from evidence of the nature of the weapon, the manner in which the homicide is committed, and the manner in which the wounds were inflicted. O'Bryan v. State, supra; Hernandez v. State, 273 So.2d 130 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 277 So.2d 287 (Fla. 1973).
Eyewitness testimony disclosed that prior to the shooting Dino left the room, walked down a hall, returned with a .38 caliber weapon, and silently strode directly to the victim. From a distance of no more than three inches, he pointed the weapon at Willie Knight and fired.
The circumstances are inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence as to the existence of premeditation. Hall v. State, 403 So.2d 1319 (Fla. 1981). Unlike the situation in Marasa v. State, 394 So.2d 544 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981), this record contains evidence that defendant's actions were designed to effect death. In arriving at our conclusion that evidence supports a verdict of premeditation, we do not consider defendant's earlier remarks which could reasonably be construed as having been made in jest. We refer to Dino's comments that Willie Knight would never see another baseball and that he would be killed if he frightened Mrs. Dino.
Addressing defendant's challenge to the court's refusal to suppress his statement, we note that the trial court ruled that defendant was not insane or psychotic at the time he made the statement. Although the court failed to make a specific finding that the statement was made voluntarily, the court's ruling encompassed that finding. See Peterson v. State, 382 So.2d 701 (Fla. 1980); Finley v. State, 378 So.2d 842 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). We find no error on the question of voluntariness.
We find no violation of constitutional rights in the officer's conducting an interview with defendant in the absence of his attorney under the circumstances presented. The attorney agreed that the interview could be conducted, and Detective Majors' promise that he would terminate the interview prior to receiving incriminating statements was not violated; Dino's statement was exculpatory.
For these reasons, we find no error and confirm the conviction and sentence.