Case Name: George Ernest MUNOZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2006-07-28
Citations: 937 So. 2d 686
Docket Number: No. 2D05-1297
Parties: George Ernest MUNOZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: DAVIS, J., Concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 937
Pages: 686–692

Head Matter:
George Ernest MUNOZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 2D05-1297.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
July 28, 2006.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 28, 2006.
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Steven L. Bolotin,. Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Donna S. Koch, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.

Opinion:
VILLANTI, Judge.
George Munoz appeals his judgment and sentence as a habitual felony offender to fifteen years' prison. • for burglary of a dwelling, a second-degree felony. See § 810.02(3), Fla. Stat. (2004). He argues that the house under construction which he is accused of burglarizing cannot qualify as a dwelling and that his conviction should therefore be reduced to burglary of an unoccupied structure, a third-degree felony. See § 810.02(4)(a). We agree and reverse.
Ishmauel Dudley testified that he purchased the late nineteenth-century house burglarized by Munoz from its previous occupants to restore and resell. It was unoccupied at the time of the burglary. Dudley and his construction crew were reworking the house "from the ground up" — "adding two bedrooms, two bathrooms . totally restoring [the] house" and adding a second-floor loft. They had removed a couple of the "anterior walls" and all of the plaster in order to insulate the house. A back door was removed and replaced with a "piece of plywood." And, at the time of the burglary, the phases of' construction and inspections were incomplete. The pictures of the house entered into evidence show a house that had been gutted — no insulation or sheetrock, unfin-' ished flooring, debris everywhere, stacks of plywood, exposed walls, and wires dangling from the ceiling.! The pictures also show garbage, buckets, and work supplies on the floor. The house had a roof over it, a bathtub, a minirefrigerator, a microwave, and miscellaneous items left behind by construction workers including clothes,. tools, and tool boxes. The house also had plumbing and electricity, but the power system was temporary and "for construction purposes" only and the indoor plumbing was not in use; the workers used the Port-O-Let prominently standing in the front yard.
It is undisputed that this house previously qualified as a dwelling under section 810.011. Section 810.011(2) defines a "dwelling" as "a building or conveyance of any kind, including any attached porch, whether such building or conveyance is temporary or permanent, mobile or immobile, which has a roof over it and is designed to be occupied by people lodging therein at night, together with the curti-lage thereof." (Emphasis added.)
The house here had a roof over it, was designed to be occupied by people lodging therein at night, and in fact had been occupied for decades. The issue is whether it still qualifies as a dwelling even though it was undergoing massive reconstruction at the time of the burglary. In Gonzalez v. State, 724 So.2d 126, 127 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998), the Third District noted that a home under construction but nearing completion qualified as a dwelling. However, this statement was dicta because the question of whether a home under construction was a dwelling was not at issue. Further, Gonzalez did not address the language of the most recent Florida Supreme Court case on the issue, Perkins v. State, 682 So.2d 1083 (Fla.1996), discussing suitability for lodging. In Anderson v. State, 831 So.2d 702, 703 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), the Fourth District correctly noted that the language in Gonzalez was dicta but refrained from commenting on whether a home under construction could qualify as a dwelling under the burglary statute. Therefore, this issue has apparently not been previously addressed in Florida.
In State v. Bennett, this court concluded that as long as a structure is " 'designed' for eventual human habitation," it qualifies as a dwelling. 565 So.2d 803, 805 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990) (finding that a mobile home unconnected to utilities arid sitting on a sales lot qualified as a dwelling under section 810.011). However, in Perkins, 682 So.2d 1083, the Florida Supreme Court suggested that a house designed for lodging by people but unsuitable for lodging may not qualify as a dwelling. In Perkins, the court noted that "the legislature has extended broad protection to buildings or conveyances of any kind that are designed for human habitation. Hence, an empty house in a neighborhood is extended the same protection as one presently occupied." Id. at 1085. The court further stated:
"Occupancy is no longer a critical element under this [statutory] definition. Rather, it is the design of the structure or conveyance which becomes paramount. If a structure or conveyance initially qualifies under this definition, and its character is not substantially changed or modified to the extent that it becomes unsuitable for lodging by people, it remains a dwelling irrespective of actual occupancy. It is, therefore, immaterial whether the owner of an unoccupied dwelling has any intent to return to it."
Id. at 1084 (alteration in original; emphasis added) (quoting Perkins v. State, 630 So.2d 1180, 1181-82 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)). Thus, Perkins recognized that to qualify as a dwelling, the structure must not only be designed to be occupied by people for lodging therein at night, but also that it must not be substantially changed to the extent that it becomes unsuitable for lodging by people. The only exception would be that created by the legislature in section 810.011 — if a structure became unsuitable for lodging because of substantial changes occurring during a state of emergency. For instance, if a hurricane caused a wall of a house to collapse, the remaining portions or remnants of the house would still qualify as a dwelling despite the fact that the character of the house had substantially changed to the extent that the house was unsuitable for lodging.
The state of emergency exception is the only one in the statute. Under the analysis in Bennett, the state of emergency exception is unnecessary for houses bereft of walls during a state of emergency because such houses are still designed for lodging. The state of emergency exception makes sense only if, as suggested by Perkins, the definition of dwelling requires that the structure is both designed for lodging by people and suitable for lodging by people. See State v. Goode, 880 So.2d 817, 824 (Fla.2002) (noting that it is also a basic rule of statutory construction that "the Legislature does not intend to enact useless provisions, and courts should avoid readings that would render part of a statute meaningless"). The legislature specifically protected houses made unsuitable for lodging during states of emergency; it did not provide the same protection for houses unsuitable for lodging for other reasons, for instance because of reconstruction or renovation. According to section 810.011 and Perkins, if the character of the house is substantially changed to the extent that it becomes unsuitable for lodging for some reason other than during a state of emergency, there is no statutory exception and the house no longer qualifies as a dwelling.
The house owned by Dudley stands in stark contrast to the one discussed in Perkins, which was clearly suitable for lodging. See 682 So.2d at 1084 (discussing the house's electricity, available well water, stove, refrigerator, washer, microwave, and assorted items in the closets and cabinets). Dudley's house was missing interi- or walls, sheetrock, and insulation. It was undergoing a total restoration, and the inspections of it were not yet completed. The facts that the construction workers used a temporary power pole, a minifridge, and an old microwave, shown in the pictures surrounded by stacks of garbage, buckets, and work supplies, did not make this construction site suitable for lodging by any stretch of the imagination.
Applying Perkins, the house here no longer met the definition of a dwelling under the burglary statute. See Perkins, 682 So.2d 1083 (concluding that a house that was unoccupied but suitable for lodging qualified as a dwelling). Additionally, it did not meet the statutory exception for houses made unsuitable for lodging during a state of emergency.
The evidence that Munoz entered the house under construction with intent to commit a theft was insufficient to sustain a conviction for burglary of a dwelling. As Munoz concedes, the evidence could have sustained a conviction for burglary of an unoccupied structure, see § 810.02(4)(a), which was submitted to the jury as a lesser-included offense. Therefore, we reverse Munoz's conviction and sentence for burglary of a dwelling and remand to the trial court with directions to enter a judgment of guilty of the lesser charge of burglary of an unoccupied structure and to resentence Munoz.
Reversed and remanded.
DAVIS, J., Concurs.
CANADY, J., Dissents with opinion.
. We believe that Dudley meant that the interior walls had been removed to install insulation; as is suggested by the pictures of the house.
. In Gonzalez, 724 So.2d 126, the defendant had removed air compressors from concrete pads adjacent to houses under construction. The Third District reversed because the compressors were not located within the houses or within the curtilage of the houses.
. Bennett, decided before Perkins, did not address whether a mobile home on a sales lot was suitable for lodging.
. The exception in section 810.011(2) states, "However, during the time of a state of emergency declared by executive order or proclamation of the Governor under chapter 252 and within the area covered by such executive order or proclamation and for purposes of ss. 810.02 and 810.08 only, the term [dwelling] includes such portions or remnants thereof as exist at the original site, regardless of absence of a wall or roof."