Opinion ID: 1697763
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: murder charge: indictment and jury instructions

Text: As Deparvine's second challenge on appeal, he argues that the indictment charging him with two counts of murder in the first-degree was void for failure to specify whether the State would pursue a conviction under a theory of premeditation or felony murder. Deparvine contends that this failure results in a jurisdictional defect that warrants resubmission to a new grand jury. The State contends that Deparvine has waived this issue for review because he waited until after the State rested to move to dismiss the indictment. The trial court agreed with the State. On January 28, 2004, a grand jury returned a five-count indictment against Deparvine. Counts one and two read: COUNT ONE The Grand Jurors of the County of Hillsborough, State of Florida, charge that WILLIAM JAMES DEPARVINE, between the 25th day of November, 2003, and the 26th day of November, 2003, inclusive, in the County of Hillsborough and State of Florida, did unlawfully and feloniously kill a human being, to-wit: RICHARD VAN DUSEN or any other human being by shooting him with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a firearm, and during the course of the commission of the offense, the said WILLIAM JAMES DEPARVINE, discharged a firearm and as a result of the discharge, death was inflicted upon RICHARD VAN DUSEN, contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, to-wit: Florida Statute 782.04(1)/775.087(2), and COUNT TWO The Grand Jurors of the County of Hillsborough, State of Florida, charge that WILLIAM JAMES DEPARVINE, between the 25th day of November, 2003, and the 26th day of November, 2003, inclusive, in the County of Hillsborough and State of Florida, did unlawfully and feloniously kill a human being, to-wit: KARLA VAN DUSEN or any other human being by shooting her with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a firearm, and/or stabbing her with a deadly weapon to-wit: a sharp object, and during the course of the commission of the offense, the said WILLIAM JAMES DEPARVINE, discharged a firearm and as a result of the discharge, death was inflicted upon KARLA VAN DUSEN contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, to-wit: Florida Statute 782.04(1)/775.087(2). Generally, if an indictment or information fails to completely charge a crime under the laws of the state, the defect can be raised at any time. State v. Gray, 435 So.2d 816, 818 (Fla.1983). However, Where a defendant waits until after the State rests its case to challenge the propriety of an indictment, the defendant is required to show not that the indictment is technically defective but that it is so fundamentally defective that it cannot support a judgment of conviction. Ford v. State, 802 So.2d 1121, 1130 (Fla.2001). In Ford, the defendant was indicted for sexual battery with a firearm, child abuse, and two counts of first-degree murder. Id. at 1125. After the State rested its case in the guilt phase, defense counsel challenged the propriety of the indictment on the child abuse charge for the first time. Id. at 1130. This Court held that although the statute cited in the indictment encompassed three separate child abuse offenses, Any inquiry concerning the technical propriety of the indictment should have been raised prior to trial at which time any deficiency could have been cured. The indictment as worded adequately placed Ford on notice that he was charged with a violation of the child abuse proscriptions of section 827.03. Id. Similarly, in Garcia v. State, 492 So.2d 360 (Fla.1986), the defendant filed several pretrial motions attempting to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the indictment did not charge a violation of the laws of the state, but there was no motion to dismiss specifically stating that the attempted murder charge did not allege premeditation. Id. at 368. We concluded that the technical defect, having not been challenged during pretrial, did not require dismissal because [e]vidence of premeditation was presented and the jury instructed that attempted first-degree murder must either arise from premeditated design or be committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of a robbery. . . . It is clear to us that there was not a complete omission of an essential element and the indictment was not so vague as to mislead or prejudice appellant. Id. As with Ford and Garcia, we conclude that Deparvine's challenge also came too late and was properly rejected by the trial court. We also reject his challenge on the merits and find the indictment adequately charged first-degree murder, thereby allowing the State to proceed on the theory of premeditation and felony murder. Even if the failure to specifically allege premeditation may have been a technical defect, defense counsel failed to challenge the indictment before trial. Rather, prior to trial, defense counsel filed a motion for a statement of particulars as to aggravating circumstances and as to the theory of prosecution, which is governed by Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.140(n). See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.140(n). To properly challenge the sufficiency of an indictment, defense counsel needed to move to dismiss the indictment under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.190(b)-(c). See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.190(b)(c). Thus, Deparvine now must show that the indictment is so fundamentally defective that it cannot support a judgment of conviction. However, we note that the wording in the indictment placed Deparvine on express notice that he was charged with a violation of the first-degree murder statute set out in section 782.04(1), Florida Statutes (2003), and the indictment included factual allegations as to the manner in which death was inflicted. That statute encompasses both premeditated and felony murder. Upon review we conclude that there was not a complete omission of an essential element and the indictment was not so vague as to mislead or prejudice Deparvine or so fundamentally defective that it cannot support a judgment of conviction. We also reject the related claim that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that it could find premeditated murder, felony murder, or both, when the indictment only charged first-degree murder and cited the first-degree murder statute, but did not specify any specific theory. However, we have never held that the State (or a grand jury), must designate in the indictment or information the specific theory charged, so long as the defendant is put on notice that he is charged with first-degree murder under the relevant statute. Indeed, we have held that even where the State expressly charges premeditation it may nevertheless proceed under an alternative felony murder theory. O'Callaghan v. State, 429 So.2d 691, 695 (Fla.1983); see also Knight v. State, 338 So.2d 201, 204 (Fla.1976).