Court Opinion

ID: 9929324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-02 15:05:00.827809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:07:17.772579
License: Public Domain

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                 _____________________________

                      Case No. 5D22-0490
                  LT Case No. 20-CF-001006-C
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STEVEN TROY GIBSON,

    Appellant,

    v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

    Appellee.
                 _____________________________

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Citrus County.
Richard A. Howard, Judge.

Matthew J. Metz, Public Defender, and Andrew Mich, Assistant
Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Robin A.
Compton, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for
Appellee.

                       February 2, 2024

HARRIS, J.

     Steven Troy Gibson owned a home in Citrus County, Florida.
Gibson would allow several of his friends, some with small
children, to reside with him. Gibson and his friends would smoke
methamphetamine in the home on a daily basis and he was well
aware of the dangers this posed to the children staying in his
house. Tragically and predictably, the two-month-old child of one
of his guests died in the home and her primary cause of death was
determined to be methamphetamine toxicity. The State charged
Gibson with aggravated manslaughter of a child, three counts of
child neglect, and maintaining a public nuisance/drug house.
Following a trial, Gibson was found guilty of the lesser included
offense of manslaughter on count one, the lesser included offense
of culpable negligence on counts two, 1 three, and four, and as
charged on count five. Gibson was sentenced to fifteen years in
prison on count one, time served on counts three and four, and
three years in prison followed by two years of drug offender
community control on count five. Counts one and five were ordered
to run consecutively. It is from this judgment and sentence that
Gibson now appeals.

     On appeal, Gibson first argues that the trial court erred in
refusing to instruct the jury on additional lesser included offenses
of child neglect and culpable negligence on count one. We agree
with the State that any failure to give the requested instructions
was harmless in this case because the evidence clearly supported
the manslaughter conviction, see Dean v. State, 230 So. 3d 420,
423–24 (Fla. 2017), and because the offenses of child neglect and
culpable negligence are two or more steps removed from
aggravated manslaughter. See State v. Abreau, 363 So. 2d 1063,
1064 (Fla. 1978) (per curiam) (holding reviewing courts may
properly find that error in omitting instruction on lesser included
offense is harmless where the lesser offense is two or more steps
removed). We therefore affirm Gibson’s conviction and sentence on
count one.

     Gibson also challenges his conviction on count five, in which
he was charged with maintaining a public nuisance/drug house in
violation of section 893.17(7)(a)(5), Florida Statutes. Under that
statute, maintaining a drug house is a first-degree misdemeanor
and only becomes a felony upon a second or subsequent violation.
On appeal, the State properly concedes that the information did

    1 Because count two dealt with the same victim as count one,

and was a necessary lesser included offense, the trial court merged
it into count one.

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not allege a prior offense and that no evidence was presented at
trial or sentencing to support the felony conviction. Gibson should
have been convicted and sentenced on count five as a first-degree
misdemeanor. We therefore reverse that portion of Gibson’s
sentence and remand for resentencing on count five.

     Finally, as to counts three and four, Gibson argues that his
convictions for culpable negligence as first-degree misdemeanors
were error because there is no indication whether the jury found
him guilty because he exposed the children to injury in violation of
section    784.05(1),   Florida    Statutes    (a    second-degree
misdemeanor), or because he inflicted actual injury on the children
in violation of 784.05(2), Florida Statutes (a first-degree
misdemeanor). The State again correctly acknowledges the
absence of any finding of actual injury. We therefore remand this
matter for the judgment to be corrected to reflect convictions for
second-degree misdemeanors on counts three and four.

     AFFIRMED    in   part,   REVERSED     and   REMANDED      with
Instructions.

EDWARDS, C.J., and BOATWRIGHT, J., concur.

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    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
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