Supreme Court of Florida
____________
No. SC14-860
____________
THOMAS DAUGHERTY,
Petitioner,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Respondent.
[January 19, 2017]
LABARGA, C.J.
Thomas Daugherty seeks review of the decision of the Fourth District Court
of Appeal in Daugherty v. State, 96 So. 3d 1076 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012). Daugherty
cited as authority the district court decisions in Haygood v. State, 54 So. 3d 1035
(Fla. 2d DCA 2011), rev. granted, 61 So. 3d 410 (Fla. 2011) (table), and Williams
v. State, 40 So. 3d 72 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), rev. granted, 64 So. 3d 1262 (Fla.
2011) (table), both of which were reversed by this Court.1 We have jurisdiction.
See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. Upon review, we quash the decision of the
1. See Haygood v. State, 109 So. 3d 735 (Fla. 2013); Williams v. State, 123
So. 3d 23 (Fla. 2013).
district court and hold that where a defendant is convicted of second-degree
murder after the jury is erroneously instructed on the lesser included offense of
manslaughter by act, the one step removed analysis to determine fundamental error
is not based on the order of the offenses on the verdict form. Rather, because
manslaughter as a matter of degree is a next lesser offense of second-degree
murder, giving an erroneous instruction on manslaughter by act constitutes
fundamental error even if manslaughter is not listed immediately below second-
degree murder on the verdict form. In this case, the error caused by a faulty
instruction on manslaughter by act was not cured by the jury’s consideration of
other offenses that were also one step removed. Thus, we remand this case with
instructions that Daugherty be granted a new trial for the homicide of Norris
Gaynor.
Additionally, because the jury convicted Daugherty of attempted second-
degree murder after being erroneously instructed on attempted voluntary
manslaughter, we remand this case with instructions that Daugherty be granted a
new trial for the attempted homicides of Jacques Pierre and Raymond Perez.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Daugherty was convicted of one count of second-degree murder and two
counts of attempted second-degree murder. These convictions stemmed from a
series of three separate events during the early morning hours of January 12, 2006,
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when Daugherty and two codefendants beat three homeless men in Fort
Lauderdale. Victim Norris Gaynor died from his injuries hours after the attack.
Victims Jacques Pierre and Raymond Perez survived their injuries. Daugherty was
seventeen years old at the time of the crimes.
At trial, multiple witnesses, including codefendant William “Billy”
Ammons, testified that Daugherty was present during the attacks on each victim.
Ammons testified that after smoking marijuana and drinking at his home during
the early morning hours of January 12, 2006, he, Daugherty, Brian Hooks, and
Joey Griffith decided to ride to the beach. Ammons was the driver. While in the
vicinity of Florida Atlantic University, either Daugherty or Hooks suggested that
they “mess with” a man they saw sitting on a bench. All agreed, and Ammons
parked his vehicle. Daugherty and Hooks took baseball bats with them and
approached the man (Jacques Pierre). Daugherty and Hooks swung their bats at
Pierre. Ammons testified that Daugherty’s swing missed Pierre, while Hooks hit
Pierre in the shoulder. Immediately afterwards, Ammons, Daugherty and the
others ran back to Ammons’ vehicle. The attack on Pierre was captured on
surveillance video.
The group returned to Ammons’ home and began smoking more marijuana
and drinking. Each agreed to go out again and find another victim. While en route
to another location, they rode past the location where they attacked Pierre and saw
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yellow crime tape. Ammons parked near the local performing arts center, and
Hooks and Daugherty went in search of another person to attack. The group
approached a man (Norris Gaynor) who was laying on a bench. Daugherty hit
Gaynor in the head with a baseball bat while Ammons, who was armed with a
paintball gun, fired it multiple times. Daugherty and Hooks ran away, but they
reapproached Gaynor after seeing him try to get up from the bench. Hooks hit
Gaynor with a rake and Daugherty again hit Gaynor with the bat.
Ammons and Griffith left the area without Daugherty and Hooks, but later
met up with them. They all returned to Ammons’ home, and Griffith eventually
departed from the others. Ammons, Daugherty, and Hooks continued to smoke
marijuana and drink alcohol, after which they left Ammons’ home in search of a
third person to attack. Hooks, who was driving this time, parked his vehicle and
retrieved a golf club and a play sword from inside the vehicle. Hooks gave
Ammons the sword. Daugherty was armed with a baseball bat. The three started
walking toward one man with the intent to attack him. However, they were
distracted by another man, Raymond Perez, who was laying on the ground under a
blanket. The three ran toward Perez. Ammons began hitting him with the sword,
and Daugherty hit him with the bat. Perez started yelling, and the three ran away
and returned to Ammons’ home.
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Pierre and Perez suffered serious injuries but survived. Gaynor died from
blunt force trauma several hours after the attack, despite being treated in an
emergency room. Gaynor suffered five cracked ribs, as well as skull and facial
fractures, internal bleeding, swelling, and cuts and bruises. His eyes and lips were
swollen, his forehead was cut and bruised, and his nose was broken. The part of
his brain beneath the fractured skull area was crushed and cut in the front.
Gaynor’s face was also extensively fractured above his eyes.
Daugherty and Hooks were both charged with one count of first-degree
murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. The two defendants were
tried together. Ammons pled guilty to third-degree murder and testified at the joint
trial. In addition to an instruction on the charged offense of first-degree murder,
Daugherty’s jury also received instructions on the lesser included offenses of
second-degree murder, third-degree felony murder, manslaughter, and aggravated
battery, respectively.2 The manslaughter instruction contained not only the
required instruction on manslaughter by act, but also a permissive instruction on
2. On the facts of this case, the jury should not have been allowed to
consider aggravated battery as a non-homicide lesser included offense of first-
degree murder. See Martin v. State, 342 So. 2d 501, 503 (Fla. 1977) (stating that
“we hold that where a homicide has taken place, the proper jury instructions are
restricted to all degrees of murder, manslaughter, and justifiable and excusable
homicide.”), superseded on other grounds by Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.490. While an
instruction on a non-homicide lesser included offense may be permissible where
there is evidence of an intervening cause of death, no such evidence exists here.
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manslaughter by culpable negligence. The instruction on manslaughter by act was
consistent with the instruction later deemed fundamentally erroneous in this
Court’s decision in State v. Montgomery, 39 So. 3d 252 (Fla. 2010).
On appeal, Daugherty challenged his convictions. With respect to his
conviction for second-degree murder, Daugherty argued that the faulty instruction
on the lesser included offense of manslaughter by act constituted fundamental
error. The parties also disputed whether the jury’s consideration of manslaughter
by culpable negligence remedied the fundamental error caused by the
manslaughter by act instruction.
The district court declined to conduct a fundamental error analysis. Instead,
the court concluded that a harmless error analysis applied because the lesser
included offense of third-degree felony murder was placed on the verdict form
between second-degree murder and manslaughter. According to the district court,
as a result of the layout of the verdict form, the offense of manslaughter was two
steps removed from the second-degree murder offense of which Daugherty was
convicted. The court explained:
Even without considering that the jury received the manslaughter by
culpable negligence instruction, we find that there is an independent
reason why giving the manslaughter instruction, as a lesser included
offense of the murder charge, was not fundamental error in this case.
As our supreme court has explained, “When the trial court fails to
properly instruct on a crime two or more degrees removed from the
crime for which the defendant is convicted, the error is not per se
reversible, but instead is subject to a harmless error analysis.” Pena v.
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State, 901 So. 2d 781, 787 (Fla. 2005). Here, because the jury was
also instructed on the lesser included offense of third-degree felony
murder, manslaughter was actually two steps removed from second-
degree murder under the facts of this case. See Echols v. State, 484
So. 2d 568, 574 (Fla. 1985) (holding that manslaughter was a lesser
included offense that was three steps removed from first degree
murder where the jury, if inclined to exercise its “pardon” power,
could have returned verdicts of second-degree or third-degree
murder). If the jury had been inclined to exercise its pardon power, it
could have returned a verdict of third-degree felony murder, which
was the next lower crime on the verdict form; the evidence in this case
would have supported a conviction for third-degree felony murder.
We conclude that the error in the manslaughter by act instruction was
harmless and did not constitute fundamental error.
Daugherty, 96 So. 3d at 1078. Thus, the court concluded that Daugherty was not
entitled to relief because the erroneously instructed crime of manslaughter did not
immediately follow the offense of conviction, second-degree murder, on the
verdict form, but was instead preceded by third-degree felony murder.
The district court affirmed Daugherty’s convictions. However, in light of
the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455
(2012) (holding unconstitutional mandatory sentences of life imprisonment without
parole for juvenile offenders), it reversed Daugherty’s sentence of life
imprisonment for second-degree murder. Additionally, the court certified “conflict
with the contrary decisions of the other districts” regarding the attempted
manslaughter instruction. Because it required the jury to find that the defendant
intended to cause the death of the victim, it contained the same flaw as the
manslaughter by act instruction. Daugherty, 96 So. 3d at 1079. In November
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2012, Daugherty was resentenced to forty years in prison on the second-degree
murder conviction.
ANALYSIS
Daugherty, who was convicted of second-degree murder, contends that he is
entitled to relief because the jury instruction on the lesser included offense of
manslaughter by act erroneously required that the jury find he intended to kill
Gaynor. Daugherty argues that giving the erroneous instruction on manslaughter
by act, an offense that is one step removed from second-degree murder, constituted
fundamental error. In the proceedings below, the district court evaluated the error
caused by the faulty manslaughter by act instruction. However, the court
concluded the instruction did not constitute fundamental error because according to
the layout of the verdict form, manslaughter was not one step removed, but rather,
two steps removed from second-degree murder. Daugherty also asserts that his
convictions for attempted second-degree murder are invalid because the jury
instruction for the lesser included offense of attempted voluntary manslaughter, an
offense one step removed from the offenses of conviction, improperly required the
jury to find that he intended to cause the death of victims Pierre and Perez.
As we explain below, we disagree with the district court’s analysis of what
constitutes a step removed. We therefore quash the decision of the Fourth District
Court of Appeal and remand for a new trial on the homicide count. We further
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conclude that the instructions on attempted voluntary manslaughter constituted
fundamental error and similarly remand for a new trial on those counts. We first
address Daugherty’s conviction for second-degree murder.
Second-Degree Murder
State v. Montgomery
The erroneous manslaughter by act instruction in Daugherty’s case is
consistent with that given in Montgomery, 39 So. 3d 252. In Montgomery, the
defendant was tried for first-degree premeditated murder, but was convicted of
second-degree murder. The jury was instructed on first-degree murder and the
required lesser included offenses of second-degree murder and manslaughter by
act. On the verdict form, the charged offense of first-degree murder was listed
first, followed by second-degree murder, and then manslaughter. Montgomery’s
jury was properly instructed as to both first-degree and second-degree murder.
However, at the time of the trial, the standard jury instruction on manslaughter by
act erroneously required the State to prove that one, the victim was dead, and two,
that the defendant “intentionally caused the death of [the] (victim).” Fla. Std. Jury
Instr. 7.7 (2006). The jury was additionally instructed that: “In order to convict of
manslaughter by intentional act, it is not necessary for the State to prove that the
defendant had a premeditated intent to cause death.” Montgomery, 39 So. 3d at
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256 (quoting Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 7.7 (2006)). Montgomery did not preserve the
error with an objection at trial.
Florida’s manslaughter statute, set forth in section 782.07, Florida Statutes
(2005), “does not impose a requirement that the defendant intend to kill the
victim.” Id. at 256. Guided by this statute, this Court concluded:
Although in some cases of manslaughter by act it may be
inferred from the facts that the defendant intended to kill the victim, to
impose such a requirement on a finding of manslaughter by act would
blur the distinction between first-degree murder and manslaughter.
Moreover, it would impose a more stringent finding of intent upon
manslaughter than upon second-degree murder, which, like
manslaughter, does not require proof that the defendant intended to
kill the victim. Thus, we conclude that under Florida law, the crime
of manslaughter by act does not require proof that the defendant
intended to kill the victim.
Id.
After clarifying that under Florida law, the crime of manslaughter by act
does not require the intent to kill, this Court evaluated the jury instruction given
and concluded that the language “intentionally caused the death of (victim)”
erroneously required the jury to find intent in order to convict Montgomery of
manslaughter: “We agree with the district court’s observation . . . that a reasonable
jury would believe that in order to convict Montgomery of manslaughter by act, it
had to find that he intended to kill [the victim].” Id. at 257. This Court further
concluded that the additional language “it is not necessary for the State to prove
that the defendant had a premeditated intent to cause death” was “insufficient to
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erode the import of the second element: that the jury must find that the defendant
intended to cause the death of the victim.” Id.
Having concluded that the crime of manslaughter by act did not require the
intent to kill, and that the then-standard jury instruction erroneously required such
a finding, the remaining inquiry in Montgomery was whether the giving of the
erroneous instruction amounted to fundamental error. See id. at 257-58 (“Because
Montgomery did not contemporaneously object to the manslaughter instruction, we
apply a fundamental error analysis here.”). This Court explained that fundamental
error could only occur where the erroneous instruction “was ‘pertinent or material
to what the jury must consider in order to convict.’ ” Id. at 258 (quoting State v.
Delva, 575 So. 2d 643, 645 (Fla. 1991)). This Court further observed that
manslaughter, a next lesser offense of second-degree murder, was one step
removed from second-degree murder, and we evaluated the relationship between
second-degree murder and manslaughter by act as follows: “If the jury is not
properly instructed on the next lower crime, then it is impossible to determine
whether, having been properly instructed, it would have found the defendant guilty
of the next lesser offense.” Id. at 259 (quoting Pena v. State, 901 So. 2d 781, 787
(Fla. 2005)). In sum, Montgomery was convicted of second-degree murder after
the jury was erroneously instructed on the next lesser offense of manslaughter (a
crime one step removed from second-degree murder), and the erroneous instruction
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was pertinent and material to what the jury had to consider in order to convict.
Thus, the erroneous instruction constituted fundamental error.3
Daugherty’s Manslaughter Instruction
Like defendant Montgomery, Daugherty was convicted of second-
degree murder after the jury was erroneously instructed on manslaughter by
act. Daugherty’s jury received the following instruction:
As to Count one in the Indictment, before you can find Thomas
Daugherty to be guilty of the lesser included crime of manslaughter,
the State must prove the following elements beyond a reasonable
doubt. One, Norris Gaynor is dead. Two, Thomas Daugherty
intentionally caused the death of Norris Gaynor, or the death of Norris
Gaynor was caused by the culpable negligence of Thomas Daugherty.
***
In order to convict of manslaughter by intentional act, it is not
necessary for the State to prove that the defendant had a premeditated
intent to cause death.
While Montgomery and Daugherty were both convicted of second-degree murder
after the jury was erroneously instructed on the lesser included offense of
manslaughter by act, there is a significant distinction between the two cases. In
Daugherty, in addition to first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and
manslaughter, the jury was also instructed on the lesser included offense of third-
3. Since this Court issued Montgomery, the standard jury instruction has
been amended to clarify the intent required for a conviction of manslaughter by
act.
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degree felony murder. For the district court, this distinction was outcome-
determinative because of the order in which the lesser included offenses were
listed on the verdict form.
This Court has explained that when drafting a verdict form, “[t]he charged
crime should be followed on the verdict form by the determined lesser included
offenses in descending order by degree of offense.” Sanders v. State, 944 So. 2d
203, 207 (Fla. 2006). Lesser included offenses in Florida are divided into two
categories: category one and category two. Category one lesser included offenses
are required lesser included offenses on which the jury must be instructed.
Second-degree murder (a first-degree felony), and manslaughter by act (a second-
degree felony), are the category one lesser included offenses of first-degree
murder. In addition to the category one, required lesser included offenses of first-
degree murder, there are more than one dozen category two, permissible lesser
included offenses. This Court has explained:
. . . when the commission of one offense always results in the
commission of another, the latter offense is a category-one necessarily
lesser included offense. If the lesser offense has at least one statutory
element not contained in the greater, it cannot be a category-one
necessarily lesser included offense. However, such a lesser offense
may be a category-two permissive lesser included offense if its
elements are alleged in the accusatory pleading and proven at the trial.
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Taylor v. State, 608 So. 2d 804, 805 (Fla. 1992) (citing State v. Weller, 590 So. 2d
923 (Fla. 1991)). Third-degree felony murder is a category two lesser included
offense of first-degree murder.
In Montgomery, the jury received instructions only on the category one
lesser included offenses. Thus, the verdict form listed, in descending order of
offenses: first-degree murder, then second-degree murder, then manslaughter,
which are each progressively less severe in terms of degree. In Daugherty, while
the jury was instructed on the category one lesser included offenses, the trial court
also instructed the jury on the category two lesser included offense of third-degree
felony murder.
This Court has consistently observed that manslaughter, a next lesser
included offense of second-degree murder, is one step removed from second-
degree murder. It is this relationship between the two offenses that undergirds this
Court’s conclusion that the erroneous manslaughter instruction in Montgomery
constituted fundamental error. However, this Court has previously concluded that
third-degree felony murder—which, like manslaughter, is also a second-degree
felony—is also one step removed from second-degree murder. See Herrington v.
State, 538 So. 2d 850, 851 (Fla. 1989). “Although third-degree felony murder is
not a necessarily included offense of first-degree murder, it is, under certain
circumstances and evidence, a proper permissive lesser included offense of first-
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degree murder, requiring a jury instruction to that effect.” Green v. State, 475 So.
2d 235, 236 (Fla. 1985).
One Step Removed
In determining whether the erroneous manslaughter instruction constituted
fundamental error in Daugherty, the district court’s analysis focused on the order in
which the lesser included offenses were listed on the verdict form. The court
concluded that because the jury was instructed on third-degree felony murder, and
because third-degree felony murder was placed on the verdict form between
second-degree murder and manslaughter, manslaughter was not one step but was,
instead, two steps removed from second-degree murder. Thus, the district court’s
determination of whether a lesser included offense was one step removed from the
offense of conviction was based solely on where the lesser included offense is
listed on the verdict form. Applying this reasoning, had the verdict form listed
second-degree murder, then manslaughter, then third-degree felony murder,
Daugherty would have been entitled to relief. This reasoning cannot stand, as it
would lead to disparate results from case to case.
We acknowledge that what constitutes a step removed has never been clearly
defined. Historically, the cases that have come before this Court have not required
a determination of what a step removed means. Because these cases involved
lesser included offenses that were each progressively lesser than one another in
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terms of severity, their placement on the verdict form was consistent with that
hierarchy. Thus, whether the interpretation of a step removed was based on:
(1) the degree of the lesser included offense relative to the degree of the offense of
conviction, or (2) the location of the lesser included offense on the verdict form
relative to the location of the offense of conviction, the result was the same.
Here, however, this Court is confronted with a situation where there are
multiple lesser included offenses of the same degree—manslaughter by act and
third-degree felony murder. Thus, we must clarify what constitutes a step removed
in order to evaluate whether Daugherty is entitled to relief. We must decide
whether the fundamental error caused by the erroneous instruction on the lesser
included offense of manslaughter—a next lesser offense of second-degree
murder—can occur only when manslaughter is listed immediately below second-
degree murder on the verdict form.
Daugherty argues that because third-degree felony murder and manslaughter
are both second-degree felonies, the fact that third-degree murder separated
second-degree murder and manslaughter on his verdict form should not deprive
him of relief. We agree. The district court’s interpretation of what constitutes a
step removed improperly focused on the appearance of the verdict form and based
a defendant’s entitlement to relief on an arbitrary set of circumstances—which
lesser included offense is listed first when drafting the verdict form. We conclude
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that the determination of what constitutes a step removed is not based on the layout
of the verdict form, but rather, the relationship between the offense of conviction
and the erroneous lesser included offense instruction.
Manslaughter, a second-degree felony, is a next lesser offense of second-
degree murder. However, as we previously observed in Herrington, so is third-
degree felony murder (also a second-degree felony). Daugherty’s jury was
instructed on multiple next lesser included offenses of the same degree of severity,
and Daugherty was entitled to a proper instruction on each. The placement of
third-degree felony murder on the verdict form did not, by mere virtue of its
location between second-degree murder and manslaughter, remedy the error
caused by the faulty manslaughter instruction. To conclude otherwise would leave
to mere chance a defendant’s entitlement to relief based on how the verdict form is
fashioned.
Daugherty’s Case and Fundamental Error
Jury instructions are subject to the contemporaneous objection rule. In the
absence of an objection at trial, a challenge can be raised on appeal only if
fundamental error occurred. See Delva, 575 So. 2d at 644. When evaluating
fundamental error, there is a difference “between a disputed element of a crime and
an element of a crime about which there is no dispute in the case.” Reed v. State,
837 So. 2d 366, 369 (Fla. 2002). “In other words, ‘fundamental error occurs only
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when the omission is pertinent or material to what the jury must consider in order
to convict.’ ” Id. at 370 (quoting Stewart v. State, 420 So. 2d 862, 863 (Fla.
1982)).
In the present case, where Daugherty was indicted and tried for first-degree
murder and convicted of second-degree murder, we conclude that the issue of
intent was pertinent or material to what the jury had to consider in order to convict.
The problem with the manslaughter instruction was that it erroneously required a
finding of intent. Indeed, “[a] homicide found to be unlawful is not automatically
just one offense, but will be one of several possible homicide offenses depending
upon the nature of the intent or the lack of any intent at the time of the homicide.”
Griffin v. State, 160 So. 3d 63, 68 (Fla. 2015).
“As we have explained, where the erroneous instruction pertains to an
element that is material to the jury’s deliberation and is in dispute, fundamental
error occurs, as our precedent indicates, if that offense is one step removed from
the crime for which the defendant is convicted.” Haygood, 109 So. 3d at 742
(emphasis added). “The result of incorrectly instructing on a necessarily lesser
included offense . . . is that the jury is deprived of all the tools it needs to reach a
proper verdict in the case before it.” Id. at 743. Thus, fundamental error occurred
where Daugherty was convicted of second-degree murder, intent was an issue at
trial, and the instruction on manslaughter by act, an offense one step removed from
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second-degree murder, was pertinent or material to what the jury had to consider to
convict.
What remains to be determined is whether the fundamental error caused by
the faulty manslaughter by act instruction was cured by the giving of either the
third-degree felony murder instruction or the culpable negligence instruction.
These offenses—like manslaughter by act—are one step removed from second-
degree murder. We conclude that in this case, where the record does not support a
finding of culpable negligence, and the jury instruction on third-degree felony
murder prevented the jury from a full and accurate consideration of that offense, it
was not cured.
Manslaughter by Culpable Negligence
“Every case of manslaughter by culpable negligence must be determined
upon the facts and circumstances peculiar to it.” Scarborough v. State, 188 So. 2d
877, 877 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966) (citing Fulton v. State, 108 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 1959)).
“There is nothing mystical about culpability. It comprehends blame, censure or
some aspect of erratic conduct.” Fulton, 108 So. 2d at 475.
The culpable negligence instruction provided that in failing to act reasonably
towards others, Daugherty must have been without any conscious intention to
harm. Although Daugherty challenged whether he intended to kill Norris Gaynor,
no reasonable jury could conclude that Daugherty lacked a conscious intention to
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harm when he hit Gaynor with a baseball bat. Daugherty’s intentional conduct of
seeking a victim to attack with a baseball bat belies the very concept of negligence.
Thus, the evidence in Daugherty’s case does not support a finding of manslaughter
by culpable negligence. It does, however, support a finding of manslaughter by
act—that Daugherty intended to commit an act that caused Gaynor’s death—which
further underscores the harm caused by the erroneous manslaughter by act
instruction.
Third-Degree Felony Murder
Moreover, given the circumstances of this case, the wording of the third-
degree felony murder instruction would have prevented the jury from convicting
Daugherty of third-degree felony murder. Consequently, the giving of the
instruction did not remedy the fundamental error caused by the faulty manslaughter
by act instruction.
Daugherty’s jury was instructed on third-degree felony murder, with
aggravated battery as the underlying felony. Third-degree felony murder is a
“catch-all” felony murder crime, in that it may be based on any felony other than
those enumerated in section 782.04, Florida Statutes. Aggravated battery is not
one of the enumerated felonies, and as such, may form a basis for a conviction of
third-degree felony murder.
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While it appears that the jury could have reasonably found beyond a
reasonable doubt that the facts supported the underlying felony of aggravated
battery, the wording of the then-standard jury instruction on third-degree felony
murder, “the death occurred as a consequen[ce] of and while Thomas Daugherty
was engaged in the commission of aggravated battery” would have prevented the
jury from so finding based on the evidence presented. Given this instruction, a
jury could reasonably conclude that Daugherty could only be guilty of third-degree
felony murder if Gaynor died during the attack. Gaynor did not die until hours
after the attack and after seeking medical attention. Thus, the wording of this
instruction would have prevented the jury from convicting Daugherty of third-
degree felony murder. In fact, the standard jury instruction on third-degree felony
murder was revised in 2014 in a manner that rectified this very concern and more
accurately captured the State’s burden of proof. The current instruction now reads:
“While engaged in the commission of a[n] (felony alleged), [(defendant)]
[(defendant’s accomplice)] caused the death of (victim).” In re Std. Jury Inst. in
Crim. Cases—Report No. 2013-03, 146 So. 3d 1110 (Fla. 2014); Fla. Std. Jury
Instr. (Crim.) 7.6 (2014).
Because the evidence would have supported a conviction of the properly
instructed offense of manslaughter by act, the record does not support a conviction
of manslaughter by culpable negligence, and the wording of the third-degree
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felony murder instruction prevented a full and accurate consideration of that lesser
included offense, the jury was deprived of the tools necessary to reach a proper
verdict on the homicide count. Daugherty is entitled to a new trial for the
homicide of Norris Gaynor. We now turn to Daugherty’s convictions for
attempted second-degree murder.
Attempted Second-Degree Murder
Daugherty was tried for two counts of attempted first-degree murder and
was convicted of attempted second-degree murder on both counts after the jury
was erroneously instructed on the lesser included offense of attempted voluntary
manslaughter. Daugherty’s intent was in dispute. The jury instruction was
consistent with the language that this Court deemed erroneous in Williams v. State,
123 So. 3d 23 (Fla. 2013). In Williams, this Court held that the attempted
voluntary manslaughter instruction, which also required the jury to find that the
defendant intended to cause the death of the victim, constituted fundamental error
where it was one step removed from the offense of conviction, and intent was
disputed at trial. Id. at 30.4 The State argues that Daugherty is not entitled to relief
because the jury was also instructed on the lesser included offense of aggravated
4. The standard jury instruction on attempted voluntary manslaughter was
amended to remove the faulty intent language. Moreover, because the
manslaughter statute does not define manslaughter as voluntary/involuntary, the
jury instruction was renamed “attempted manslaughter by act.” See In re Amends.
to Std. Jury Instrs. in Crim. Cases—Instr. 6.6, 132 So. 3d 1124 (Fla. 2014).
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battery. We disagree. “Simply stated, the defendant is entitled to an accurate
instruction on the charged offenses and all lesser included offenses, and when the
defendant is convicted of a crime not more than one step removed from the crime
for which an erroneous instruction is given, fundamental error occurs if the
instruction pertains to a disputed element of the crime.” Id. at 29. Daugherty is
entitled to a new trial on these counts.
CONCLUSION
Fundamental error occurred as to each count charged in this case.
Accordingly, we quash the decision in Daugherty and remand to the district court
with instructions that Daugherty be granted a new trial on all counts.
It is so ordered.
PARIENTE, LEWIS, and QUINCE, JJ., and PERRY, Senior Justice, concur.
POLSTON, J., dissents with an opinion, in which CANADY, J., concurs.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND
IF FILED, DETERMINED.
POLSTON, J., dissenting.
Because I do not believe fundamental error occurred, I would approve the
Fourth District’s decision. See Haygood v. State, 109 So. 3d 735, 746-52 (Fla.
2013) (Canady, J., dissenting).
CANADY, J., concurs.
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Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal – Direct
Conflict of Decisions
Fourth District - Case No. 4D08-4624
(Broward County)
Donna Duncan and Steven Lauren Seliger of Sanders and Duncan, P.A.,
Apalachicola, Florida,
for Petitioner
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida; Consiglia Terenzio,
Bureau Chief, and Jeanine Marie Germanowicz, Assistant Attorney General, West
Palm Beach, Florida; and Kristen Lynn Davenport, Assistant Attorney General,
Daytona Beach, Florida,
for Respondent
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