WALTEEN LEE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a burglary conviction, holding that the information charging the defendant was deficient because it failed to allege the specific offense the defendant intended to commit upon entering the structure, which is an essential element of burglary.
An information purporting to charge burglary without alleging the entry was made with intent to commit a specific offense is subject to dismissal. Burglary requires a nonconsensual entry with intent to commit a specific crime, and the charging document must allege the specific intent with which the defendant entered.
[1] An information charging burglary must allege the specific offense the defendant intended to commit upon entering or remaining in a structure.
[2] Failure to allege the specific intent required for burglary renders an information subject to a motion to dismiss.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the intent required by statute is an essential element to be charged in the information”
Establishes the core holding that intent to commit a specific offense must be alleged in a burglary information
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWalteen Lee was charged via information with unlawfully entering or remaining in a dwelling owned by Gertrude Waters with intent to commit an offense …
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DOWNEY, Judge.
At issue in this case is the adequacy of the information charging appellant with burglary.
The State filed an information against appellant which alleged:
DAVID H. BLUDWORTH State’s Attorney of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, as Prosecuting Attorney for the State of Florida in the County of Palm Beach, under oath • information makes that WALTEEN LEE in the County of Palm Beach and State of Florida, on the 22nd day of APRIL in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and SEVENTY-EIGHT in the County and State aforesaid, unlawfully did then and there enter or remain in a structure, to-wit: a dwelling, the property of GERTRUDE WATERS, with intent to commit an offense therein, contrary to Florida Statutes 810.02(1)(3) and 810.07 .
On the day prior to trial appellant moved to dismiss the information on the grounds that the information did not set forth an essential element of burglary, namely, the nature of the offense appellant intended to commit when he entered or remained in the structure in question. On the day of trial the court denied appellant’s motion, the case proceeded to trial, and a jury found appellant guilty as charged in the information. The sole question raised on appeal is the propriety of the order denying appellant’s motion to dismiss the information.
The gravamen of the offense of burglary is the nonconsensual entry of a structure or conveyance with the intent to commit an offense therein. Section 810.-01(1), Florida Statutes (1977); Dowis v. State, 326 So. 2d 197 (Fla.4th DCA 1976). Furthermore, the intent required by statute is an essential element to be charged in the information. Dowis v. State, supra. Unquestionably this is the general rule in most jurisdictions. 13 Am.Jur.2d, Burglary § 36. We hold that an information purporting to charge the crime of burglary without alleging the entry was made with intent to commit a specific offense is subject to a motion to dismiss. This is so because burglary is the entering (or remaining inside) a structure without permission and with intent to commit a specific crime. The charging document must allege the intent with which the defendant entered in order to properly charge the crime of burglary. The State contends that the information in question meets the foregoing requirements because of the reference therein to several statutory sections, 810.02(1), (3) and 810.07. In its brief the State says, “Reading the charge in conjunction with the statute, it is clear that appellant was accused of entering Mrs. Waters’ dwelling with intent to commit a burglary.” However, that argument is clearly untenable. One of the essential elements of the charge of burglary is the defendant’s intent to commit a specific offense after an unlawful entry. For an information to charge that a defendant unlawfully entered a structure with intent to commit burglary is tantamount to the information’s charging that the defendant committed a burglary with intent to commit burglary.
Subsection 810.02(3) of the burglary statute specifies the penalties for burglary under certain conditions. Section 810.07 has to do with proof of intent:
“In a trial of the charge of burglary, proof of the entering of such structure or conveyance at any time stealthily and without consent of the owner or occupant thereof shall be prima facie evidence of entering with intent to commit an offense.”
Thus, it is apparent that neither of the statutory sections referred to in the information in this case remotely fills the pleading void created by the failure to allege the offense intended to be committed upon entry.
Since the allegations of the information are insufficient to charge the crime of burglary, we have scrutinized the record to determine whether the appellant was apprised of the specific intent which the State intended to prove so that no prejudice would attach to the deficient information. However, we are unable to conclude that appellant was not prejudiced by this oversight.
Accordingly, the judgment and sentence is reversed and the cause is remanded with directions to dismiss the information with leave to amend if the State be so advised.
REVERSED AND REMANDED with directions.
BERANEK and HERSEY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Rozier v. State, 402 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)…ced that rule by holding that a charging document which fails to specify a particular offense is subject to a motion to dismiss. See Charles v. State, 36 Fla. 691, 18 So. 369 (1895); State v. Fields, 390 So. 2d 128 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Lee v. State, 385 So. 2d 1149 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). The result of this is that while the statute does not require an intent to commit any specific or particular crime, the State is required to allege and prove an intent to commit a particular crime. Of course, the accused’s speci…
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State v. Fields, 390 So. 2d 128 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)…, be laid in mere general words. It is not sufficient to say that the defendant broke and entered with intent to commit a misdemeanor, but the kind of misdemeanor must be specified. 18 So. at 370. Recently we applied the above rule in Lee v. State, 385 So. 2d 1149, 1150 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980), and held that “an information purporting to charge the crime of burglary without alleging the entry was made with intent to commit a specific offense is subject to a motion to dismiss.” Given this opportunity to revisit Le…
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Waters v. State, 401 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)…Notwithstanding the fact that the specific offense intended to be committed is of little consequence to the penalties involved, this court has recently held that an information is defective if it fails to set out the specific offense. Lee v. State, 385 So. 2d 1149 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). Subsequently, in State v. Fields, 390 So. 2d 128 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980), we modified that view somewhat by suggesting that the state has the choice of alleging the specific offense or of alleging its reliance upon Section 810.07 of…
Authorities Cited
- Fessler v. State, 326 So. 2d 197 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)