Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Ronald James WHEELER, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1999-11-24
Citations: 745 So. 2d 1094
Docket Number: No. 98-1597
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Ronald James WHEELER, Appellee.
Judges: GUNTHER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 745
Pages: 1094–1099

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Ronald James WHEELER, Appellee.
No. 98-1597.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Nov. 24, 1999.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Barbra Amron Weis-berg, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Gary S. Israel of Gary S. Israel, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
The state appeals from an order granting the defendant's motion to dismiss his aggravated stalking charge. We reverse.
The defendant and his wife were separated. During the pendency of contested divorce proceedings, the circuit court issued a domestic violence injunction after the defendant attempted suicide. On August 18, 1997, the defendant was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking under section 784.048(4), Florida Statutes. According to the probable cause affidavit, the defendant violated the injunction by calling his wife and leaving threatening messages on her answering machine. The affidavit also recounted past instances wherein the defendant violated the restraining order by telephoning her, driving by her residence, contacting her at work, and following her.
The trial court ordered a psychological evaluation of the defendant. The defendant filed a notice of intent to rely on an insanity defense. One forensic psychiatrist, Dr. McKinley Cheshire, reported that the defendant was competent to stand trial but was insane at the time of the commission of the crime.
On the day the trial was scheduled to begin, the victim/wife was not present. The state requested a continuance because it had been unable to serve her. The defendant's counsel advised the court that he had some "additional evidence" that could explain why the victim was not present. He showed the court a letter he received from the victim stating that the defendant was not guilty of aggravated stalking and that she wanted the case to be dismissed. The trial court granted the state's motion for a continuance until the following day so the state could secure the victim's presence. The court warned, "[n]ow, if she's not here tomorrow morning, I'm inclined to grant a motion to dismiss it."
The following day the victim appeared in court. The trial judge placed her under oath, questioned her, and verified that she had voluntarily written and signed the letter. The victim explained that she and the defendant were close to finalizing their divorce and testified that she wanted the case against her husband dismissed. She acknowledged that a dismissal meant that the judge would no longer have authority to require the defendant to continue treatment recommended by the psychiatrists. Upon being shown her prior statements, the victim admitted that the incidents she reported had, in fact, occurred, and that the defendant had violated the restraining order on a few occasions. However, she testified that she never intended for the defendant to go to jail. She simply wanted some "space" and to be left alone.
When the defendant was questioned by the trial judge, he denied the aggravated stalking charges and testified that the statements contained in the police reports were untrue and inaccurate. He did not deny calling the victim's home, however, to speak to his children. After the defendant testified, his attorney moved ore terms to dismiss the charges. He argued that "there is nothing to be served by the pros ecution going forward.... Mr. Wheeler has already served 63 days in jail. So I think the punishment had been meted out."
Over the state's objection that the court lacked authority to dismiss the case, the trial court granted the motion. The court determined that it was in the best interest of the people of the State of Florida, the parties, and their children to dismiss the case. The judge noted that the defendant had never before been arrested nor convicted of any crimes and that he was not a danger to the public and was no longer a danger to his wife.
The state correctly argues that the trial judge's actions in dismissing the aggravated stalking charge constituted an improper infringement upon its discretion to prosecute. See State v. Brown, 416 So.2d 1258 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). Notwithstanding the court's belief that the best interests of the public and the parties would be served by dismissal, it is the state attorney who "must still make the final determination as to whether prosecution will continue." State v. Cleveland, 390 So.2d 364, 367 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980), approved, 417 So.2d 653 (Fla.1982). Similarly, the decision to prosecute does not he with the victim of a crime. McArthur v. State, 597 So.2d 406 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992); State v. Bryant, 549 So.2d 1155 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Brown, 416 So.2d at 1259. In McArthur, the victim of a domestic violence battery did not want to pursue charges against the defendant. Rejecting the appellant's argument for dismissal, the court stated, "[t]he thrust of appellant's argument on this point is that he should not have been charged in a domestic dispute where the victim advised the state attorney's office that she did not wish to prosecute. Since the decision to charge was the prerogative of the prosecutor, the argument is unavailing." 597 So.2d at 408.
Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that the defendant had properly presented a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.190(c)(4), the defendant would not have been entitled to a dismissal of the aggravated stalking charge where, as here, the state was able to establish a prima facie case against the defendant. Rule 3.190(c)(4) provides that a court may entertain a motion to dismiss where "[t]here are no material disputed facts and the undisputed facts do not establish a prima facie case of guilt against the defendant." The defendant's wife testified that the incidents she described in her statements about the defendant's numerous injunction violations actually occurred. Moreover, the defendant did not contend, nor did the court find, that the undisputed facts failed to establish a prima facie case. Rather, the defendant argued that there was nothing to be served by allowing the prosecution to go forward. The trial judge agreed and based his dismissal order solely on the victim's desire not to pursue prosecution and his belief that justice would be best served by terminating the case since the parties had settled their differences and the defendant was not a threat to society or the victim. Dismissal for these reasons was error.
Therefore, we reverse and remand for reinstatement of the aggravated stalking charge against the defendant.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
GUNTHER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
FARMER, J., dissents with opinion.