JOSH GREEN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1984-08-02
No. 83-525
ORFINGER, J., and BLOUNT, URIEL, Jr., Associate Judge, concur.
453 So. 2d 526 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1984) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Josh Green was charged with first degree murder for shooting a woman. The trial court refused to instruct the jury on third degree felony murder as a lesser included offense. The appellate court affirmed the conviction of second degree murder, holding that third degree felony murder is not a lesser included offense of premeditated first degree murder because it contains different statutory elements.


Holding

Third degree felony murder is not a lesser included offense of premeditated first degree murder because the underlying felony of firing at an occupied dwelling or vehicle contains different statutory elements than simple first degree murder, and therefore no instruction was required under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.510 or 3.490.


Headnotes

[1] Third degree felony murder is not a lesser included offense of premeditated first degree murder.

[2] A requested jury instruction on a lesser included offense is not required if the underlying felony for that offense contains different statutory elements than the charged…

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“We do not think that in this case the third degree felony murder instruction should have been given because it is not a lesser included offense of premeditated first degree murder.”

Establishes the court's holding that third degree felony murder does not qualify as a lesser included offense

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Green shot and killed Kristi Media Starling with a rifle as she stood near a truck. The victim was unaware she was being fired upon and died instantly…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SHARP, Judge.

SHARP, Judge.

The sole material issue in this case is whether the trial court erred in refusing to give defense counsel’s requested instruction on third degree murder. § 782.04(4), Fla.Stat. (1983).1 Green was charged with first degree murder,2 and the trial court gave the jury instructions on second degree murder,3 and on manslaughter.4 The jury convicted Green of second degree murder. We affirm.

Defense counsel argued that proof at trial established the underlying felony of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling or at an occupied vehicle.5 The allegations in the indictment6 and proof at trial established that the victim was killed by Green with a bullet fired from his rifle as she was standing near a truck. She was unaware she was being fired upon, and she died instantly. Green testified he fired either at a nearby bar or at the truck.

We do not think that in this case the third degree felony murder instruction should have been given because it is not a lesser included offense of premeditated first degree murder. See The Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, Florida Standard Jury Instructions, Schedule of Lesser Included Offenses (1981 ed.). The underlying felony urged by defense counsel — firing at an occupied dwelling or into an occupied car — contains different statutory elements than simple first degree murder. Therefore, neither Florida Rule of Criminal Pro cedure 3.510,7 nor Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.4908 require the giving of the requested instruction. Third degree felony murder is not a degree crime of simple premeditated murder. AFFIRMED.

ORFINGER, J., and BLOUNT, URIEL, Jr., Associate Judge, concur. .That crime is defined as:

(4) The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated without any design to effect death, by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any felony other than any:
(a) Trafficking offense prohibited by s. 893.135(1),

(b) Arson,

(c) Sexual battery,

(d) Robbery,

(e) Burglary,

(f) Kidnapping,

(g) Escape,

(h) Aircraft piracy,

(i) Unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb, or (j) Unlawful distribution of opium or any synthetic or natural salt, compound, derivative, or preparation or opium by a person 18 years of age or older, when such drug is proven to be the proximate cause of the death of the user,

ís murder in the third degree and constitutes a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.-084.

. § 782.04(l)(a)(l), Fla.Stat. (1983).

. § 782.04(2), Fla.Stat. (1983).

. § 782.07, Fla.Stat. (1983).

. § 790.19, Fla.Stat. (1983).

. The indictment charging appellant with murder stated, in pertinent part:

That JOSH GREEN did, on the 7th day of May, 1981, in Osceola County, Florida, in violation of Florida Statute 782.04(1), from a premeditated design to effect the death of a human being kill and murder KRISTI MEDIA STARLING, in said county, by shooting her with a rifle.

. That rule provides:

Upon an indictment or information upon which the defendant is to be tried for any offense the jury may convict the defendant of:
(a) an attempt to commit such offense if such attempt is an offense and is supported by the evidence. The judge shall not instruct the jury if there is no evidence to support such attempt and the only evidence proves a completed offense.

(b) any offense which as a matter of law is a necessarily included offense or a lesser included offense of the offense charged in the indictment or information and is supported by the evidence. The judge shall not instruct on any lesser included offense as to which there is no evidence.

Fla.RXrim.P. 3.510.

. If the indictment or information charges an offense divided into degrees, the jury may find the defendant guilty of the offense charged or any lesser degree supported by the evidence. The judge shall not instruct on any degree as to which there is no evidence.

Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.490.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Green v. State, 475 So. 2d 235 (Fla. 1985)
    …OVERTON, Justice. This cause is before us on petition to review a decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal reported as Green v. State, 453 So. 2d 526 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). The district court held that a requested third-degree felony murder jury instruction was properly denied during petitioner’s trial for first-degree premeditated murder because third-degree felony murder is not a lesser included…

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw