Case Name: Patrick PALUMBO, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2011-01-28
Citations: 52 So. 3d 834
Docket Number: No. 5D08-1275
Parties: Patrick PALUMBO, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: LAWSON and EVANDER, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 52
Pages: 834–837

Head Matter:
Patrick PALUMBO, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 5D08-1275.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Jan. 28, 2011.
Paul A. Gionis and Spiro J. Verras of Bilirakis Law Group, LLC, Holiday, and R. Scott Andringa of R. Scott Andringa, Esq. LLC, Largo, for Appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Bonnie Jean Parrish, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Opinion:
ON MOTION FOR WRITTEN OPINION
PER CURIAM.
We grant the motion for written opinion and withdraw the previously issued decision, which affirmed without opinion, citing State v. Pate, 656 So.2d 1323 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995).
Appellant was convicted by jury of capital sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation of a young girl. He contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the sexual battery conviction because his penis did not penetrate the victim's "vagina," as defined in the technical, medical sense — meaning just the passageway between the cervix and the vulva. We have previously held that the statute criminalizes "union" with the "vagina," including, in this context, the entire vulva area and not just the passageway between the cervix and the vulva. Pate, 656 So.2d at 1326. No elaboration of our prior panel opinion is necessary. We acknowledge conflict with the Second District's decision in Richards v. State, 738 So.2d 415 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). Appellant made additional arguments in his initial brief, but his motion for written opinion is appropriately confined to this one issue. We affirm on all issues raised in the appeal without further discussion.
We deny Appellant's motions for rehearing and certification of a question of great public importance.
AFFIRMED.
LAWSON and EVANDER, JJ., concur.
TORPY, J., concurs and concurs specially, with opinion.
. The trial court vacated the conviction for lewd or lascivious molestation, concluding that it had been subsumed in the sexual battery count.