Case Name: Alexie R. KELLY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2006-12-21
Citations: 946 So. 2d 591
Docket Number: No. 1D05-1371
Parties: Alexie R. KELLY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: ALLEN and DAVIS, JJ., concur; THOMAS, J., dissents with opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 946
Pages: 591–598

Head Matter:
Alexie R. KELLY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 1D05-1371.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Dec. 21, 2006.
Rehearing Denied Jan. 22, 2007.
Dale C. Carson, Jacksonville, and John M. Merrett, Jacksonville, for Appellant.
Charlie Crist, Attorney General, Trisha Meggs Pate, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
In this direct appeal from conviction and sentence for sexual 'abuse crimes, Appellant challenges the' dispositive issue of whether the trial court erred by allowing the state to introduce Appellant's confession into evidence pursuant to section 92.565(2), Florida Statutes (2005). We agree with Appellant that the requirements of section 92.565(2) were not met and that the trial court erred by admitting Appellant's confession.
Appellant was charged with sexual abuse crimes against a minor. Appellant confessed to the charges. Subsequently, the victim recanted and stated that she would not cooperate with the prosecution nor would she testify at trial. The state sought to admit Appellant's confession pursuant to section 92.565(2).
Section 92.565(2) creates an exception to the corpus delicti rule for certain sexual abuse crimes. The corpus delicti rule is a fundamental and ancient rule of evidence which requires the state to prove the actus reus of a crime by independent means before the state can introduce into evidence any extrajudicial confessions of an accused. Lambright v. State, 34 Fla. 564, 16 So. 582, 585 (Fla.1894). For qualifying sexual abuse cases, section 92.565(2) allows the state to introduce a confession into evidence if the trial court determines that the confession is trustworthy and that the state is unable to establish an element of the crime. The statute provides trial courts with a non-exhaustive list of "factors which may be relevant in determining whether the state is unable to show the existence of each element of the crime." § 92.565(2), Fla. Stat (2005). These factors
include, but are not limited to, the fact that, at the time the crime was committed, the victim was:
(a) Physically helpless, mentally incapacitated, or mentally defective, as those terms are defined in s. 794.011;
(b) Physically incapacitated due'to age, infirmity, or any other cause; or
(c) Less than 12 years of age.
Id.
The trial court concluded that Appellant's confession was trustworthy and that the state was unable to establish elements of the charged offenses because the victim refused to cooperate with the prosecution. When the trial court ruled that Appellant's confession could be admitted into evidence, Appellant pled no contest to the charges, but reserved the right to appeal this issue, which was stipulated to be dispositive. For the following reasons, the trial court erred in admitting Appellant's confession.
Because section 92.565 is in derogation of the common law corpus delicti rule, this statute must be "strictly construed, and should not be interpreted to displace the common law further than is necessary." Tillman v. State, 934 So.2d 1263, 1269 (Fla.2006). Given that this statute enumerates specific factors for the trial court's consideration, strict construction requires the application of the principle of ejusdem generis. See Soverino v. State, 356 So.2d 269, 273 (Fla.1978)("Under the well-established doctrine of ejusdem gener-is, where general words follow the enumeration of particular classes of persons, the general words will be construed as applicable only to persons of the same general nature or class as those enumeratr ed, unless an intention to the contrary is clearly shown [because] if the legislature had intended the general words to be used in their unrestricted sense, they would not have made mention of the particular classes.")(internal citations omitted). Applying the principle of ejusdem generis, it becomes clear that a prerequisite to the application of section 92.565(2) is the prosecution's inability to independently prove the crime due to some disability on the part of the victim-. See Bradley v. State, 918 So.2d 337, 340 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005). As enunciated in the portion of the statute introducing the list of factors to be considered by the trial court, the disability which prevents the state from proving the elements of the crime must exist at the time the crime is committed. See § 92.565(2), Fla. Stat. (2005).
Here, the trial court attributed the State's inability to prove the corpus delicti to the victim's refusal to cooperate with the prosecution. Such refusal on the part of the victim is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the statute. The victim's statement during a deposition that she would not appear at a trial to testify against Appellant did not create the sort of disability contemplated by the statute and this alleged disability was not present at the time the crime was committed. Because the State's inability to prove the corpus delicti of the crime was not attributable to a disability of the victim present at the time of the crime, the trial court erred in admitting Appellant's confession.
Accordingly, Appellant's conviction is reversed. Because the state has stipulated that the confession issue is dispositive, this matter is remanded with directions for Appellant to be discharged.
ALLEN and DAVIS, JJ., concur; THOMAS, J., dissents with opinion.