Opinion ID: 1642582
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Age Element of Section 782.04(1)(a)(3), Florida Statutes (1999)

Text: Pena was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder by drug distribution. Section 782.04(1)(a)(3), Florida Statutes provides: 782.04 Murder. (1)(a) The unlawful killing of a human being: . . . . 3. Which resulted from the unlawful distribution of any substance controlled under s. 893.03(1), cocaine as described in s. 893.03(2)(a)4., or opium or any synthetic or natural salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium by a person 18 years of age or older, when such drug is proven to be the proximate cause of the death of the user, is murder in the first degree and constitutes a capital felony, punishable as provided in s. 775.082. The jury instruction given at the conclusion of the evidence did not contain age as an element of the offense. Pena made no objection to the jury instruction as given and Pena did not request any addition to the instruction. On appeal, the Second District affirmed Pena's conviction despite his argument that it was fundamental error to fail to include age as an element in the jury instruction. The Second District opined that under the circumstances, where it is undisputed that the defendant is over the age of eighteen and age is not a disputed element at trial, it is not fundamental error to omit to instruct on the age element. Specifically, the district court found that it was not fundamental error to omit an instruction on the defendant's age when the undisputed evidence establishes that the defendant's age fulfills the statutory age requirement for this offense. Pena, 829 So.2d at 293. In so holding, the district court cited to this Court's opinion in State v. Delva, 575 So.2d 643 (Fla.1991). The district court then certified the question to this Court as one of great public importance. In Delva, the defendant was charged by information with trafficking in cocaine. His defense at trial was that he did not know that the cocaine was in his car. On appeal, he argued that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that the defendant must have knowledge that the substance was cocaine. The district court reversed his conviction and certified as a question of great public importance whether the trial court must instruct the jury on the knowledge element. We quashed the decision of the district court, finding that failure to instruct the jury on an element of the offense charged is not fundamental error if the record shows there was no dispute as to that element. We said: Failing to instruct on an element of the crime over which the record reflects there was no dispute is not fundamental error and there must be an objection to preserve the issue for appeal. E.g., Stewart [v. State, 420 So.2d 862 (Fla.1982)] (trial court did not instruct on intent to permanently deprive as element of robbery, but defendant admitted at trial that he stole the victim's personal property); Morton v. State, 459 So.2d 322 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (no instruction on elements of robbery, but facts of robberies conceded with mistaken identity being the only contested issue), review denied, 467 So.2d 1000 (Fla.1985); Williams v. State, 400 So.2d 542 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) (same as Morton ). 575 So.2d at 645. We reiterated this standard in Reed v. State, 837 So.2d 366 (Fla.2002). Although we reversed and found fundamental error in Reed, we did so because the element contained in the erroneous jury instruction was disputed at trial. We cited to the Delva opinion for the proposition that jury instructions are subject to the contemporaneous objection rule and will only be reviewed on appeal without an objection if the error is fundamental and for the proposition that failure to instruct on an element of an offense over which there is no dispute is not fundamental error. Reed, 837 So.2d at 370. The district court in this case reached a similar conclusion and relied on the fact that Pena's defense at trial was based on issues of causation, that Pena could not have argued that he was below the statutory age, and that no jury could have found that he was below the statutory age. The court concluded, This is one of those rare situations where the failure to instruct on a statutory requirement of the crime can be regarded as harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Pena, 829 So.2d at 293. We agree with the district court. There is no dispute that Pena was twenty-eight years old at the time of the crime. In his recorded statement, Pena indicated he was born on June 25, 1971. This recorded statement was presented to the jury. No contrary evidence was introduced. Furthermore, Pena voiced no objection that the instruction did not include age as an element of the crime. Under the specific facts of this case, even if Pena had objected and preserved this issue for review, the error would be harmless. See Glover v. State, 863 So.2d 236, 238 (Fla.2003) (holding that although the defendant's age is a statutory element of capital sexual battery, failure to include the age element in the jury instructions was not fundamental error where the defendant's age was not a disputed fact). Therefore, we answer the first certified question in the negative and hold that in this case, the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the age requirement of section 782.04(1)(a)(3) was not fundamental error because the undisputed evidence established that Pena was more than eighteen years of age at the time of the crime.
Pena also alleges that age is an essential element of section 782.04(1)(a)(3), Florida Statutes (1999), for first-degree murder by drug distribution and must be alleged in the charging document. Pena was charged in a one-count indictment which stated: The Grand Jurors of the County of Hillsborough, State of Florida, charge that JOSE FRANCISCO PENA, on or between the 9th day of September, 1999, and the 10th day of September, 1999, in the County of Hillsborough and State of Florida, did unlawfully and feloniously kill a human being, to-wit: MIRRANDA FERNANDES while engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate the unlawful distribution of Heroin and/or Methylene dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a substance controlled under Florida State [sic] 893.03(1), to MIRRANDA FERNANDES, the said drugs being the proximate cause of the death of MIRRANDA FERNANDES, contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, to-wit: Florida Statute 782.04. Although the language of the indictment tracks the language of section 782.04(1)(a)(3), it does not allege Pena's age at the time of the crime. Pena did not object to the sufficiency of the indictment, nor did he move to dismiss it. Pena contends, however, that the failure to charge the element of age in the indictment was fundamental error which may be raised for the first time on appeal. This Court has held that the sufficiency of an indictment is determined by considering whether the indictment is so vague, inconsistent and indefinite as to mislead the accused and embarrass him in the preparation of his defense or expose him after conviction or acquittal to substantial danger of a new prosecution for the same offense. Tucker v. State, 459 So.2d 306, 307 (Fla.1984) (quoting Brown v. State, 135 Fla. 30, 184 So. 518, 519-20 (1938)). Moreover, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.140( o ) provides: No indictment or information, or any count thereof, shall be dismissed or judgment arrested, or new trial granted on account of any defect in the form of the indictment or information or of misjoinder of offenses or for any cause whatsoever, unless the court shall be of the opinion that the indictment or information is so vague, indistinct, and indefinite as to mislead the accused and embarrass him or her in the preparation of a defense or expose the accused after conviction or acquittal to substantial danger of a new prosecution for the same offense. See, e.g., Hart v. State, 761 So.2d 334 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). The failure to allege that Pena was eighteen at the time of the offense did not render the indictment so vague, inconsistent, and indefinite as to mislead Pena or embarrass him in the preparation of his defense, or expose him to a new prosecution for the same charge. Thus, the error in failing to include the age element in the indictment was not fundamental. Pena was required to preserve the issue of the sufficiency of the indictment by compliance with rule 3.140( o ). As the district court found, Pena's defense was based on causation and had nothing to do with his age. In fact, evidence at trial showed that Pena himself told police his date of birth which showed he was twenty-eight at the time of the crime. This is not a situation where the State charged a crime that was totally unsupported by the evidence, or where the State had to prove the value of items when such value was necessary to sustain a higher-grade offense. See, e.g., Troedel v. State, 462 So.2d 392, 394 (Fla.1984) (finding that the conviction imposed upon a crime totally unsupported by evidence constituted fundamental error); E.R. v. State, 806 So.2d 529 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (holding that the State's failure to prove value of property stolen required reversal of adjudication of delinquency). Although the charging document in this case failed to allege the age element of first-degree murder by drug distribution, the evidence supported the fact that Pena met the age requirement. Thus, the failure to allege age in this case did not constitute fundamental error, and Pena waived any defects in the document when he failed to object.