Opinion ID: 1571490
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Armed Burglary

Text: Lynch next contends that our decisions in Delgado v. State, 776 So.2d 233 (Fla.2000), and State v. Ruiz, 863 So.2d 1205 (Fla.2003), compel the conclusion that he did not commit a burglary on March 5, 1999, and that he would not have pled guilty had counsel informed him of this case law. He premises this contention on the following portion of his guilt-phase factual proffer: [H]e gained entry voluntarily into the home at that point in time [ (i.e., his initial entry) ]. Subsequently removed from a bag that he had, one of two or three firearms. And at that point in time the kidnapping ensues, as well as what we contend or what the State contends and we admit was, in essence, a burglary, because whatever consent he had to be there was gone. (Emphasis supplied.) The 1999 version of section 810.02, Florida Statutes, which applies to Lynch's armed burglary, states: Burglary means entering or remaining in a dwelling ... with the intent to commit an offense therein, unless the premises are at the time open to the public or the defendant is licensed or invited to enter or remain. (Emphasis supplied.) In Delgado, we held that the rule of lenity (codified in section 775.021(1), Florida Statutes) required that the remaining in element of burglary be limited to situations where the defendant surreptitiously remains after having received consent to enter; otherwise, the State could charge that a burglary had occurred in any situation in which an individual entered a dwelling with consent and later committed an offense therein. In Ruiz, we stated: [T]he essence of Delgado is that evidence of a crime committed inside the dwelling, structure, or conveyance of another cannot, in and of itself, establish the crime of burglary. Stated differently, the State cannot use the criminal act to prove both intent and revocation of the consent to enter. 863 So.2d at 1211 (quoting Delgado, 776 So.2d at 238). Delgado applies to burglaries committed before February 1, 2000, which had not been finally adjudicated at the time this Court issued its opinion in that case (i.e., August 24, 2000). See Ruiz, 863 So.2d at 1212. Lynch committed this armed burglary on March, 5, 1999, and his direct appeal was not finalized until January 9, 2003. See Lynch, 841 So.2d at 362. [8] Consequently, Delgado applies to Lynch's armed-burglary offense. Lynch is correct that during his guilt-phase proceeding trial counsel misapprehended the then-existing nature of burglary. The facts counsel proffered during the plea colloquy would not support a burglary conviction under Delgado because counsel stated Lynch entered the victims' apartment with the consent of Leah Caday. The State could not have used the kidnapping of Caday and the murders of Caday and Morgan to prove the burglary elements of (1) lack of consent or revocation of consent and (2) intent to commit an offense within the dwelling. See Ruiz, 863 So.2d at 1211. However, any deficiency in this regard did not prejudice Lynch because trial counsel and Lynch were well aware that he exited the apartment and thereafter sought a non-consensual reentry after having wounded Morgan with three shots from the Glock G30. Lynch knocked on the door to Morgan's apartment and said [to Caday], `Hurry up, open the door, your mom is hurt.'  Lynch, 841 So.2d at 371 (emphasis supplied). Consent to enter induced through fraud or deceit is illusory as a matter of law, and we conclude that the same rationale applies to consent induced through coercion or implied threat of force. Cf., e.g., Andrews v. State, 973 So.2d 1280, 1283 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (holding that consent obtained through fraud or deceit (i.e., false pretense) is a legal nullity). Lynch compelled a minor to open the door of her apartment by shooting her mother and then using her mother's injuries to gain access to the dwelling with the intent to commit an offense therein (i.e., the murder of Roseanna Morgan). This is not a consensual entry. Lynch and his trial counsel knew that the State possessed facts sufficient to establish burglary. Therefore, the facts of this case reveal that any prejudice Lynch alleges that he may have suffered from his counsel's off-the-cuff factual proffer would not have altered his decision to plead guilty to the offense of armed burglary.