Case Name: Antonio MORALES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2015-05-22
Citations: 170 So. 3d 63
Docket Number: No. 1D13-1113
Parties: Antonio MORALES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: CLARK, J., concurs; BILBREY, J., concurs with opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 170
Pages: 63–69

Head Matter:
Antonio MORALES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 1D13-1113.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
May 22, 2015.
Rehearing Denied June 26, 2015.
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and Nada M. Carey, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Michael McDermott, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Opinion:
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
ROBERTS, J.
On the State's Motion for Rehearing, we withdraw our opinion of December 23, 2014, and substitute this opinion in its place.
Antonio Morales appeals his judgment and sentence for attempted first-degree murder, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal because the State failed to present sufficient evidence from which a jury could have found his actions were premeditated. We affirm because the issue was not preserved for appeal.
Morales was charged by information with attempted first-degree murder arising out of a nightclub shooting on August 6, 2011. At Morales's jury trial, the State presented testimony from the victim, Kevelin Holmes, who testified that he was at the nightclub on the night in question and left at closing time. Holmes tried to speak with a female on his way out, but she did not acknowledge him and got into a grey vehicle with several other occupants/ Holmes stated that the vehicle drove past him quickly "kind of like it fixing to hit me," which prompted a verbal exchange between Holmes and the vehicle's occupants. The vehicle drove on "a bit" and stopped. Holmes heard the occupants arguing. The rear passenger of the vehicle exited and began shooting. Holmes was shot once in the stomach and identified Morales as the shooter.
Another eye witness, Leon Oliver, testified that he walked outside the nightclub at closing time and observed a patron arguing with people inside a vehicle that was leaving the parking lot. Oliver saw the vehicle stop and saw the person in the rear passenger seat get out and fire four rounds from a handgun, hitting the patron once in the stomach. Oliver testified that the shooter "fired, fired, fired[,] and then one more shot was fired and then they sped off[.]" Oliver further testified that before the car sped off, the shooter "[g]ot back in the car and one more shot, one more shot came out and hit the carpet." Through Oliver, the State introduced a surveillance video that depicted the victim and the vehicle involved in the shooting as well as what appeared to be the shooting itself.
Several law enforcement witnesses testified about the evidence collected from the scene, which included spent .380 shell casings and projectiles and a .380 caliber pistol found under the rear passenger seat of the vehicle. The State's firearms expert testified that the .380 caliber pistol found under Morales's seat was striker fired and required 11.5 pounds of force to pull the trigger, which is comparatively more difficult to fire than other pistols. The testimony also showed that Morales tested positive for gunshot residue and that he made inculpatory statements on jail phone calls.
At the close of the State's case in chief, defense counsel moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the State failed to meet its burden of proving attempted first-degree murder in a purely circumstantial case. The defense attorney first relied Lindsey v. State, 14 So.3d 211 (Fla.2009), to argue that the circumstantial evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.. Notably, in Lindsey, the issue involved circumstantial evidence relating to the defendant's involvement in the crime, not to the premeditation element. The defense attorney also relied on Ballard v. State, 923 So.2d 475 (Fla.2006), to argue that there was no physical evidence of value in the case linking Morales to the shooting. As in Lindsey, Ballard involved an examination of the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence to support Ballard's involvement in the crime, not the premeditation element. Morales's defense attorney continued the argument, stating:
There — if you look at the video you cannot see the actual crime take place. There are no admissions by Mr. Morales in his jail calls. There's no confession and I would argue that the eyewitness identification by Mr. Holmes was only made here in court when he knew where the defendant would be seated whereas previously he had indicated to me to me that the individual that he recalled firing at him had little twists in his hair and, of course, I question his credibility given that he's a six-time convicted felon.
The trial court denied the motion, finding that Holmes' in-court identification of Morales meant that the case was no longer a purely circumstantial one. The motion for judgment of acquittal was perfunctorily renewed at the close of the evidence and was again denied. Attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, attempted manslaughter, and aggravated assault instructions were discussed and approved without objection. Defense counsel did not challenge the premeditation element with respect to the jury instructions. The jury was instructed on premeditation and returned a verdict finding Morales guilty of attempted first-degree murder. The trial court adjudicated Morales guilty and sentenced him to 45 years in prison under the 10/20/Life statute. Morales appealed, arguing the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal where the evidence was insufficient to prove a premeditated intent to kill so as to support the conviction for attempted first-degree murder.
It is axiomatic that an issue cannot be maintained on appeal unless the supposed error is adequately presented to the trial court so that it may be corrected below. See Steinhorst v. State, 412 So.2d 332, 338 (Fla.1982) (holding that "in order for an argument to be cognizable on appeal, it must be the specific contention asserted as the legal ground for the objection, exception, or motion below"); State v. Currilly, 126 So.3d 1244, 1245 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (holding that in order to adequately preserve an issue for appeal, an argument must be "sufficiently precise so as to fairly apprise the trial court of the relief sought and the grounds therefor"). See also Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.380(b) (a motion for judgment of acquittal must "fully set forth the grounds on which it is based"). Appellate courts have repeatedly declined to review the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal where the motion failed to make the specific argument raised on appeal. See e.g., Woods v. State, 733 So.2d 980, 984-85 (Fla.1999) (rejecting the appeal of the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal that failed to fully set forth "the specific grounds upon which the motion was based"); Pryor v. State, 48 So.3d 159, 162 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010) (finding a motion for judgment of acquittal that failed to raise the defendant's knowledge insufficient to address that element in a charge of tampering with evidence). On appeal, Morales argues that the State's evidence failed to prove a premeditated intent to kill. However, below, defense counsel only advanced an argument attacking identity. The record is clear that the argument for a judgment of acquittal was solely directed to the sufficiency of the evidence regarding the identity of the shooter. All of the cases relied upon by defense counsel deal with identity. At no time did defense counsel argue the sufficiency of the evidence regarding the element of premeditation. None of the eases cited supporting the argument have anything to do with premeditation. Neither the word "premeditation" nor any synonyms thereof appear in the transcript of the argument in support of a judgment of acquittal or in any of the cases cited. As such, we cannot reach the merits of the issue on appeal as the issue was not preserved. See Vargas v. State, 845 So.2d 220, 221 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (finding that while a motion for judgment of acquittal arguably preserved the issue of the defendant's identity as the murderer, it was insufficient to preserve the issue of premeditation).
Even assuming we could reach the merits, the trial court properly let the case go to the jury. The victim testified that the vehicle Morales was riding in passed him quickly in the parking lot. He exchanged words with the occupants, and the occupants said something back. The vehicle drove on "a bit" and stopped. Holmes heard the occupants arguing. The rear passenger of the vehicle exited the vehicle and began shooting. Holmes identified Morales as the shooter. Oliver told the jury that the shooter "fired, fired, fired[,] and then one more shot was fired and then they sped off[.]" Oliver further testified that before the car sped off, the shooter "[g]ot back in the car and one more shot, one more shot came out and hit the carpet."
Premeditation "can be formed in a moment and need only exist 'for such time as will allow the accused to be conscious of the nature of the act he is about to commit and the probable result of that act.'" DeAngelo v. State, 616 So.2d 440, 441 (Fla.1993) (quoting Asay v. State, 580 So.2d 610, 612 (Fla.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 895, 112 S.Ct. 265, 116 L.Ed.2d 218 (1991)). The evidence presented in this case was not wholly circumstantial ánd was sufficient for the jury to find the defendant guilty of attempted first-degree murder.
We further decline to accept Morales's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal, which requires ineffectiveness obvious on the face of the record, indisputable prejudice, and an inconceivable tactical explanation for the conduct. See Corzo v. State, 806 So.2d 642, 645 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). As aforementioned, there was sufficient evidence of premeditation to send the issue to the jury; therefore, counsel's failure to move for acquittal on the issue of premeditation is not so obvious as to require redress on direct appeal.
AFFIRMED.
CLARK, J., concurs; BILBREY, J., concurs with opinion.