Case Name: Francisco RECINOS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1982-02-02
Citations: 420 So. 2d 95
Docket Number: No. 77-1841
Parties: Francisco RECINOS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before SCHWARTZ, NESBITT and JOR-GENSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 420
Pages: 95–99

Head Matter:
Francisco RECINOS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 77-1841.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Feb. 2, 1982.
On Rehearing Oct. 19, 1982.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Irv J. Lamel Sp. Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Anthony C. Musto, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, NESBITT and JOR-GENSON, JJ.

Opinion:
SCHWARTZ, Judge.
The only point raised in this appeal from a second-degree murder conviction challenges the trial court's admonition to defense counsel not to communicate with the defendant during recesses in the course of his testimony. Because the circumstances surrounding the instruction conclusively demonstrate that no reversible or harmful error took place, we reject the contention and affirm.
At the trial, Recinos took the stand in his own behalf, contending that he had committed the homicide in self-defense. In the course of a lengthy bench conference during his direct examination, the following occurred.
MR. HARTMAN [prosecutor]: Judge, I have two objections I would like to have put on the record . Number two, I would object to Mr. Zenobi speaking to the defendant in the middle of his testimony.
THE COURT: I instructed him, specifically, not to do that.
MR. ZENOBI [defense counsel]: I did not coach my defendant, whatsoever, Judge. He simply—
THE COURT: As far as I am concerned, he is like any other witness on the stand. I don't want any communication with him during the recesses, while he is testifying.
MR. ZENOBI: There was no instruction to my witness to say anything, and I work through the interpreter, so you can ask the interpreter.
THE COURT: I don't question that. I accept your representation on that, [emphasis supplied]
Subsequent to this colloquy, which itself revealed that defense counsel had indeed spoken with Recinos during the recess, the record contains no request or other reference to any wish by either to communicate further with the other. The court almost immediately adjourned for lunch. After-wards, the defendant's direct and then cross-examination were completed without interruption or expressed concern about the restriction imposed by the court. Nonetheless, relying on Geders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80, 96 S.Ct. 1330, 47 L.Ed.2d 592 (1976) and Stripling v. State, 349 So.2d 187 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 359 So.2d 1220 (Fla.1978), the defendant now argues that the trial court's statement that the defendant "is like any other witness on the stand" who was not to be spoken to during recesses requires a new trial. We disagree.
While the remarks embodied, as Geders and Stripling establish, an erroneous view concerning the defendant's sixth amendment right to the assistance of counsel at all times during trial, they had no practical or prejudicial effect on what actually happened below. This is the case for two separate but interrelated reasons. In the first place, the only recess during which the court's order was at all operative occurred in the middle of the direct examination, when the sole conceivable reason for counsel's communication with the client was what Zenobi himself acknowledged was the improper one of coaching him concerning the questions which were yet to be asked. Hence, the trial court may not be said to have abused its discretion in imposing that limitation. See Bova v. State, 392 So.2d 950 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) (brief recess in midst of cross-examination); cf. United States v. DiLapi, 651 F.2d 140, 149-51 (2d Cir. 1981) (concurring opinion); compare, Geders v. United States, supra (overnight recess between direct and cross-examination); Stripling v. State, supra (lunch recess between direct and cross-examination).
Second, certainly unlike Geders, and apparently unlike Stripling, defense counsel did not proffer or otherwise indicate in any way that he even desired to have a discussion' — on any permissible (or impermissible) subject — which was precluded by the order. See generally, Clark v. State, 363 So.2d 331 (Fla.1978); cf. United States v. Allen, 542 F.2d 630, 634 (4th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 908, 97 S.Ct. 1179, 51 L.Ed.2d 584 (1977). It thus appears both that any error was unpreserved and — beyond a reasonable doubt — that it made no difference whatever and was therefore constitutionally harmless. Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969); Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967); Clark v. State, supra; see United States v. DiLapi, supra, 651 F.2d 148-49 (majority opinion). The trial court's incorrect announcement was thus but a tree falling in the forest which, because its vibrations reached no legal eardrums, must be deemed to have made no legal sound.
Affirmed.
. On this point the present case falls squarely between Stripling, involving a regular, relatively lengthy luncheon recess after direct was concluded, and Bova, in which there was a brief, five-minute recess in the course of cross-examination. As our decision indicates, we believe the occasion rather than the length of the recess is more significant.
We note, moreover, that the court in Stripling found reversible error before its discussion of the present issue. Thus, it is at least uncertain as to whether this ruling would have alone required a new trial, as Recinos argues here.
. This situation, in which there is nothing to show that there would have been communication of any kind absent the order, is to be distinguished from one in which it is argued that the failure to discuss a particular subject which counsel wished to, but was prevented from undertaking would not have changed the result. We take it that it is the latter instance about which Justice Marshall in Geders commented that a defendant "need not make a preliminary showing of prejudice." [emphasis supplied] Geders v. United States, supra, at 425 U.S. at 92, 96 S.Ct. at 1337, 47 L.Ed.2d at 602 (Marshall, J., concurring), adopted in Stripling v. State, supra, at 349 So.2d 192. While we need not directly decide the question, we would be inclined to hold that even were this language controlling, any presumption of harm has been overcome beyond a reasonable doubt in the case at bar. United States v. DiLapi, supra.