Title: Coler v. State
Citation: 418 So. 2d 238
Docket Number: 54250
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: May 13, 1982

418 So. 2d 238 (1982)
Daniel Lowell COLER, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 54250.

Supreme Court of Florida.
May 13, 1982.
Rehearing Denied August 31, 1982.
Tyrie A. Boyer of Boyer, Tanzler, Blackburn &amp; Boyer, Jacksonville, Margaret Good, Louis G. Carres and Thomas S. Keith, Asst. Public Defenders, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Doris E. Jenkins, Gregory C. Smith and A. Sidney Johnston, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Coler was convicted and sentenced to death on three counts of rape of a child under eleven years and one count of sexual battery of a child eleven years or younger.[1] Each count charged Coler with a separate episode of sexual battery on his daughter during the years 1972 through 1977. At the outset we vacate the death sentence since we have held in Buford v. State, 403 So. 2d 943 (Fla. 1981), that a sentence of death is grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment for the crime of sexual assault and therefore forbidden by the eighth amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. Further, although there is sufficient evidence in the record, if believed, to support a conviction, we find that Coler was convicted in part by the use of irrelevant, unfairly prejudicial testimony which deprived him of a fair trial. We therefore reverse his convictions and order a new trial.
After Coler and his wife were divorced early in 1972, the three Coler children lived half the time with each parent. In July 1972 Coler obtained exclusive custody of the children, and they lived with him until late in 1974 when their mother regained custody. Coler was granted weekend visitation privileges with the children. In March 1977 the children complained that they did not want to visit their father. When pressed by their mother for a reason, one of the children indicated that their father had been sexually abusing the daughter. Following an investigation by the Division of Family Services, including a gynecological *239 examination, the state attorney's office sought and received an indictment.
In addition to the testimony of the children concerning the four specific incidents of sexual battery, the state introduced testimony from the children, over objection, of other examples of Coler's deviant sexual behavior. They testified that Coler had the children watch from the doorway as he fondled a woman, that he told them that they or the neighborhood children could use his bed for sexual intercourse, that he told one of his sons to have sex with three women he brought home, and that on a visit to Michigan he made the children eat a cucumber which, just prior thereto, he had inserted into the daughter's rectum. None of this testimony was relevant to prove a material issue of the indictment. It served only to prove the defendant's bad character and was obviously prejudicial.
For a discussion of evidence of a collateral nature we return to the fine opinion of Justice Thornal in Williams v. State, 110 So. 2d 654 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S. Ct. 102, 4 L. Ed. 2d 86 (1959). That case states the general rule that similar fact evidence is admissible if relevant to a fact in issue even though it also points to the commission of a separate crime. Such evidence is inadmissible, however, if its sole relevancy is to establish bad character on the part of the accused. The prosecution is not permitted to present evidence simply to show a defendant's bad character or to show a disposition toward the commission of the crime charged. If relevant, the bad character exception may have to yield if incidental to a relevant issue, but, when there is no relevance except bad character, it is error to allow such evidence.
To be relevant, evidence must prove or tend to prove a fact in issue. The state argues that the objected-to evidence proves Coler's state of mind.[2] Coler's state of mind, however, was not an issue. State of mind is not a material fact in a sexual battery charge, nor is intent an issue. Cf. Askew v. State, 118 So. 2d 219 (Fla. 1960) (specific intent is not the essence of the crime of rape). In this instance the state overstepped the threshold of responsible prosecution with the introduction of this loathsome and despicable testimony. We cannot say it did not affect the jury's verdict.
Coler raises other issues, but most of these alleged errors are unlikely to reoccur in a new trial, and we decline to address them. In any event we are unable to discern other clear reversible error on the issue of guilt.
The convictions and sentences are vacated, and Coler is granted a new trial.
It is so ordered.
BOYD, OVERTON, McDONALD and EHRLICH, JJ., concur.
ADKINS, J., dissents with an opinion with which SUNDBERG, C.J., concurs.
ALDERMAN, J., dissents with an opinion with which ADKINS, J., concurs.
ADKINS, Justice, dissenting.
I dissent.
It is true that the evidence of other sexual offenses, just as any evidence tending to prove guilt, may serve to prove defendant's bad character and be prejudicial. On the other hand, the evidence was relevant to show a state of mind or a pattern of criminality.
Ross v. State, 112 So. 2d 69 (Fla.3d DCA 1959), was a prosecution for assault, in a lewd and lascivious manner on a girl under fourteen years of age. In affirming the conviction, the court said:
Id. at 70.
Id. at 70-71.
The defendant in Summit v. State, 285 So. 2d 670 (Fla.3d DCA 1973), was convicted and sentenced for lewd and lascivious conduct upon a female child under the age of fourteen years. On appeal defendant contended that the trial court committed error in admitting into evidence testimony concerning prior sexual offenses with the victim and the victim's sister. In affirming the conviction the court said:
Id. at 670 (emphasis supplied).
Gossett v. State, 191 So. 2d 281 (Fla.2d DCA 1966), was an appeal by a husband and wife from a conviction of assault and rape upon a female under the age of fourteen years. In affirming the conviction the court said:
Id. at 282.
Id. at 283 (emphasis supplied).
Cantrell v. State, 193 So. 2d 444 (Fla.2d DCA 1966), was a prosecution for the commission of a lewd and lascivious act on an eight-year-old female child. The defendant was convicted and on appeal claimed error in the admissibility of evidence of similar acts committed by defendant with other female children. In affirming the conviction the court said:
Id. at 445 (emphasis supplied).
The defendant in Alford v. State, 307 So. 2d 433 (Fla. 1975), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 912, 96 S. Ct. 3227, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1221 (1976), was convicted of the rape and murder of a thirteen-year-old female. The trial judge admitted testimony that defendant and another man attempted to engage in anal intercourse in the hour preceding the rape and murder of the victim. In affirming the conviction this Court said:
Id. at 438 (emphasis supplied).
In Cotita v. State, 381 So. 2d 1146 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), review denied, 392 So. 2d 1373 (1981), the defendant was convicted of committing a lewd and lascivious act on his five-year-old daughter and he appealed. At trial, the victim and her brother, who was present at the time of the commission of the offense charged, testified that defendant committed the offense on the day in question. Over defendant's objection, the state presented the testimony of a neighborhood child who testified that defendant had committed the same type of sex act on her and her young sister. In affirming the conviction, the court said:
Id. at 1147 (footnote omitted).
In Gibbs v. State, 394 So. 2d 231 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), the defendant was convicted of lewd, lascivious, and indecent assault upon a child. He appealed contending that evidence of prior sex acts committed by defendant against his stepdaughter was improperly admitted. This evidence was held admissible, the court saying:
Id. at 232.
In Whiteman v. State, 343 So. 2d 1340 (Fla.2d DCA), cert. denied, 353 So. 2d 681 (1977), defendant was convicted of three counts of involuntary sexual battery. The victim was his niece who was seventeen years old. He had custodial control. In affirming the conviction the court said:
Id. at 1341.
Id. at 1343.
Defendant Coler was charged with four separate episodes of sexual battery on his daughter who was under eleven years of age during the years 1972 through 1977. His alleged conduct with his daughter was not normal, but that of a sexual deviant. Although the evidence certainly proved defendant's bad character and was obviously prejudicial, it was nevertheless admissible to prove motive, state of mind, or pattern of criminality.
It would be impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the four isolated instances of sexual battery over a course of five years by relying on the testimony of a child. There must be corroboration. Other acts of sexual abuse during this period of time would be admissible, whether they are directed to the victim or to others. The rule regarding evidence of a collateral nature were thoroughly explained in Williams v. State, 110 So. 2d 654 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S. Ct. 102, 4 L. Ed. 2d 86 (1959). After examining the numerous authorities construing Williams v. State, I believe that the majority has suffered from semantic aphasia.
Of course, the death penalty could not be imposed. Buford v. State, 403 So. 2d 943 (Fla. 1981).
SUNDBERG, C.J., concurs.
ALDERMAN, Justice, dissenting.
I disagree with the majority holding that Coler's convictions for three counts of rape of a child under eleven years and one count of sexual battery of a child eleven years or younger should be reversed because the trial court permitted evidence of other sexual offenses by Coler. Justice Adkins, in his dissent, is correct in concluding that this evidence was admissible because it was relevant to prove motive, state of mind, or pattern of criminality. Furthermore, in my view, the trial court was completely justified in finding that Coler's offenses were especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The court said:
Even though I agree with the trial court's findings as to aggravating circumstances and lack of mitigating circumstances, I find that the death sentences imposed for these offenses of rape and sexual battery must be vacated. Recently, in Buford v. State, 403 So. 2d 943 (Fla. 1981), we held that a sentence of death is grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment for the crime of sexual assault and is therefore forbidden by the eighth amendment as cruel and unusual punishment.
I would affirm the convictions, but I would remand to the trial court to reduce the death sentences to life sentences with a mandatory term of twenty-five years' imprisonment. The trial court, of course, has the discretion to make these life sentences run consecutively.
ADKINS, J., concurs.
[1]  The first three counts were based on § 794.01(1), Fla. Stat. (1971). The fourth count was based on § 794.011(2), Fla. Stat. (1975).
[2]  We make no judgment as to whether the evidence actually tends to prove or disprove Coler's state of mind. Further, we do not comment on whether the introduction of such testimony should be excluded as a result of weighing its probative value against any unfair prejudice. See § 90.403, Fla. Stat. (1979) (not applicable to the trial of this cause).