Kameron Holmes v. State of Florida ( 2019 )


Menu:
  •            FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
    STATE OF FLORIDA
    _____________________________
    No. 1D18-1700
    _____________________________
    KAMERON HOLMES,
    Appellant,
    v.
    STATE OF FLORIDA,
    Appellee.
    _____________________________
    On appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
    Russell Healey, Judge.
    August 23, 2019
    ROWE, J.
    Kameron Holmes appeals his conviction for second-degree
    murder. He argues that his motion for judgment of acquittal
    should have been granted because the State failed to prove that he
    acted with ill will, hatred, spite, or evil intent and that the shooting
    of the victim was not an accident. We affirm.
    Facts
    The victim was Holmes’s on-again-off-again girlfriend and the
    mother of Holmes’s son. One afternoon, Holmes and the victim
    planned to go to a bar to watch a football game. They left the child
    at Holmes’s apartment in the care of Holmes’s roommate. The
    victim and Holmes then drove to the bar and had a few drinks.
    While at the bar, Holmes received several phone calls from another
    woman. The victim became upset and asked Holmes to drive her
    home.
    Before driving the victim home, they picked up their son from
    Holmes’s apartment. On the drive to the victim’s home, the victim
    sat in the back seat with the child.
    While he was driving, Holmes claims that the victim accused
    him of being unfaithful to her and suggested that she should have
    ended their relationship. He asserts that the victim slapped his
    hat and his glasses off and pulled his chain necklace. He said that
    he told her to chill out, but she slapped his phone out of his hand
    when he tried to check a text message. When Holmes picked up
    the phone again, the victim began hitting him in the head even
    though Holmes repeatedly asked her to stop.
    Holmes claims that he was in fear of his life and the life of his
    son, so he pulled out his 9mm pistol and pointed it behind him into
    the back seat at the victim. The gun fired, and the victim was shot.
    After the shooting, Holmes did not immediately call 911 or
    seek any assistance to aid the victim. Instead, Holmes kept on
    driving, disposed of the gun, called his roommate, and returned to
    his apartment. Holmes told his roommate that the victim had been
    shot in a drive-by shooting. The roommate called 911 and began
    driving Holmes and the victim to the nearest hospital. The police
    dispatcher instructed them to pull over because police with
    medical training were on the way. But when police arrived, the
    victim was found dead.
    When Holmes was questioned by the police, he gave
    conflicting versions of the events leading to the victim’s death.
    First, he claimed that the victim was shot during a drive-by
    shooting.    Next, he said the victim grabbed the gun and
    intentionally shot herself. Finally, Holmes admitted that his first
    two explanations were false and claimed instead that the shooting
    was accidental. Holmes explained that he and the victim were
    fighting when they left the bar and got back into the car. Holmes
    was angry that the victim was hitting him while he was driving.
    He claimed that when he pointed the gun at the victim, he thought
    2
    the safety was on, but when the victim slapped at his wrist, the
    gun went off.
    Holmes’s story that the shooting was accidental was
    contradicted by the State’s expert witnesses. Experts testified that
    the bullet was fired from fewer than three inches from the victim’s
    head, causing the bullet to enter her brain and exit through her
    right ear. Experts also testified that the gun had multiple working
    safety features, including a trigger-lock safety. Finally, contrary
    to Holmes’s claim that the gun fired when the victim slapped at
    his hand, experts testified that the gun had an above-average
    trigger pull weight, and it would have required at least nine
    pounds of force to fire the gun.
    Holmes moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the
    State failed to prove that he acted with a depraved mind. The
    motion was denied. The jury found Holmes guilty of second-degree
    murder with a firearm. This timely appeal follows.
    Standard of Review
    We review an order denying a motion for judgment of acquittal
    de novo. Dunn v. State, 
    206 So. 3d 802
    , 804 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016).
    If the State has presented competent evidence to establish every
    element of the crime, then judgment of acquittal is improper. State
    v. Williams, 
    742 So. 2d 509
    , 511 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). When
    reviewing a court’s ruling on a motion for judgment of acquittal,
    the evidence must be construed in the light most favorable to the
    State. Perez v. State, 
    138 So. 3d 1098
    , 1100 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014).
    Analysis
    Holmes argues that the trial court erred when it denied his
    motion for judgment of acquittal because his actions amounted to
    at most, manslaughter, not second-degree murder. Holmes
    contends that the shooting was accidental and that there was no
    evidence to prove that he acted with ill will, hatred, spite, or evil
    intent when he shot the victim.
    Second-degree murder is defined as “[t]he unlawful killing of
    a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently
    3
    dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of
    human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the
    death.” § 782.04(2), Fla. Stat. (2016). The primary distinction
    between second-degree murder and manslaughter is the intent to
    kill. Jacobson v. State, 
    248 So. 3d 286
    , 288 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018).
    Manslaughter is committed when one kills as a result of his
    culpable negligence, while second-degree murder occurs “when one
    kills while perpetrating an act imminently dangerous to another
    and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life.” Id.
    (quoting Marasa v. State, 
    394 So. 2d 544
    , 545 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)).
    The Supreme Court of Florida has explained what constitutes
    evidence of a depraved mind:
    Conduct that is imminently dangerous to another and
    evincing a depraved mind is characterized by an act or
    series of acts that: (1) a person of ordinary judgment
    would know is reasonably certain to kill or do serious
    bodily injury to another, and (2) is done from ill will,
    hatred, spite or an evil intent, and (3) is of such a nature
    that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life.
    State v. Montgomery, 
    39 So. 3d 252
    , 255-56 (Fla. 2010).
    “Although exceptions exist, the crime of second-degree murder
    is normally committed by a person who knows the victim and has
    had time to develop a level of enmity toward the victim.” Light v.
    State, 
    841 So. 2d 623
    , 626 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). And in most cases,
    the intent to kill must be inferred from the circumstances. Perez
    v. State, 
    187 So. 3d 1279
    , 1282 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016). A defendant’s
    conduct before and after his use of deadly force may demonstrate
    the necessary intent. Jacobson, 248 So. 3d at 289.
    The circumstances of this case demonstrate that Holmes acted
    with a depraved mind. Holmes and the victim were in a rocky
    relationship. Holmes was angry with the victim. The victim
    wanted to go home with their son and end her relationship with
    Holmes. Holmes admitted that he pulled out a loaded pistol and
    pointed it at the victim’s head. That act alone is competent
    evidence that Holmes possessed the requisite intent to commit
    second-degree murder. See id. at 288 (“[p]ointing a loaded gun at
    the head of the victim and then firing has frequently been held to
    4
    be an act ‘imminently dangerous to another and evincing a
    depraved mind regardless of human life.’” (quoting Gibbs v. State,
    
    904 So. 2d 432
    , 435 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005))).
    Even so, the State also presented evidence that the gun was
    fired within three inches of the victim’s head and that the gun’s
    safety features were in working condition. Holmes claims that he
    believed the safety was on, but his failure to check the safety
    followed by the act of pointing the gun into the back seat of his car
    toward the victim, and their three-year-old son, amply
    demonstrates his indifference to human life. His explanation that
    the gun accidentally fired when the victim slapped his wrist is
    called into doubt by expert testimony that it would have required
    nine pounds of force to engage the trigger and fire the gun.
    Finally, Holmes’s actions after the shooting also reflect the
    requisite intent to support a second-degree murder conviction.
    After the victim was shot, Holmes did not stop driving the car. He
    did not try to render aid. He did not call 911. And he did not drive
    to a hospital. Instead, Holmes disposed of the gun, called his
    roommate, and provided false reports about the shooting. These
    actions support a finding that Holmes possessed ill will, hatred,
    spite, or evil intent towards the victim and that the shooting was
    no accident. Larsen v. State, 
    485 So. 2d 1372
    , 1374 (Fla. 1st DCA
    1986) (affirming second-degree murder conviction when the
    defendant showed “a wicked and corrupt disregard of the lives and
    safety of others . . .[,] a failure to appreciate social duty”).
    Viewed in a light most favorable to the State, the evidence was
    sufficient to allow the jury to determine whether Holmes possessed
    the ill will, hatred, spite, or evil intent necessary for a second-
    degree murder conviction. Thus, the trial court did not err in
    denying the motion for judgment of acquittal.
    AFFIRMED.
    KELSEY and M.K. THOMAS, JJ., concur.
    5
    _____________________________
    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
    _____________________________
    Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Kathleen Stover, Assistant
    Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
    Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Steven E. Woods, Assistant
    Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
    6