Layton Todd Mizell v. State of Florida ( 2022 )


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  •          FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
    STATE OF FLORIDA
    _____________________________
    No. 1D20-3627
    _____________________________
    LAYTON TODD MIZELL,
    Appellant,
    v.
    STATE OF FLORIDA,
    Appellee.
    _____________________________
    On appeal from the Circuit Court for Nassau County.
    James Daniel, Judge.
    September 21, 2022
    B.L. THOMAS, J.
    Layton Todd Mizell appeals his conviction for DUI
    manslaughter. He asserts that the trial court reversibly erred by
    excluding evidence of the deceased’s intoxication, which
    improperly deprived him of his defense that the deceased’s
    impairment was the sole cause of the fatal collision.
    Before trial, the State filed a motion in limine seeking to
    exclude evidence that the victim’s blood contained alcohol and
    drugs, and that her vehicle contained alcohol bottles, hydrocodone
    containers, and other items indicative of impaired driving. The
    victim’s blood-alcohol content was 0.17, twice the legal limit for
    which a presumption of impairment applies under section
    316.1934(2)(c), Florida Statutes (2018). 1 The victim also had active
    ingredients of marijuana and opioid analgesics in her body at the
    time of the accident.
    The State argued that this evidence was barred under section
    90.404, Florida Statutes (2018), as an impermissible use of
    character evidence, and under section 90.403, Florida Statutes
    (2018), as more prejudicial than probative. In response, the
    defense argued that this evidence was highly probative to show
    causation, and thus its probative value outweighed its prejudicial
    effect. The trial court granted the State’s motion, relying on
    Edwards v. State, 
    39 So. 3d 447
     (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), reasoning
    that without competent evidence of the victim’s contribution to the
    accident, evidence of her possible impairment was not probative of
    any material issue.
    At trial, the State presented two witnesses who saw the
    accident. The accident occurred at night on Lem Turner Road in
    Nassau County. Appellant was driving northbound. The victim
    was traveling southbound. The road is a two-lane road, and the
    speed limit is 45 miles per hour.
    The State’s first witness was driving behind Appellant for
    eight to ten minutes. The witness described Appellant’s driving
    pattern as erratic—Appellant’s vehicle failed to maintain its lane
    and would periodically slow down and speed up. He also observed
    Appellant move into the southbound lane three or four times. The
    witness testified he attempted to call 911 to report Appellant’s
    dangerous and erratic driving but lacked cell-phone coverage.
    This witness then saw Appellant cross into the southbound
    lane where Appellant’s vehicle hit the deceased’s vehicle head on.
    The witness observed the deceased’s vehicle take evasive action to
    the right to avoid Appellant’s vehicle. However, the witness
    1 “If there was at that time a blood-alcohol level or breath-
    alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, that fact is prima facie evidence that
    the person was under the influence of alcoholic beverages to the
    extent that his or her normal faculties were impaired.”
    § 316.1934(2)(c), Fla. Stat.
    2
    testified that he only observed about three seconds before the
    crash.
    The second witness was driving in front of Appellant. He
    testified that for about eight and a half miles, Appellant repeatedly
    sped up to get close to the rear of the witness’s vehicle. Appellant
    drove so close to the witness’s car that the witness could not see
    Appellant’s headlights. The second witness watched Appellant
    through his rear-view mirrors and never saw Appellant move into
    the southbound lane until the accident occurred.
    Seconds before the accident, the second witness saw a vehicle
    coming toward him in the southbound lane. As the vehicle in the
    southbound lane passed, the second witness looked in his side-view
    mirror to see how close Appellant was to the rear of his vehicle. As
    Appellant approached the witness’s vehicle, Appellant drove
    halfway into the southbound lane where he hit the deceased’s
    vehicle head on.
    The collision killed the victim immediately. Appellant
    suffered serious injuries, including major trauma to one leg after
    it was pinned under the steering wheel and crushed by the
    dashboard.
    When emergency personnel removed Appellant from his car,
    one of the witnesses identified the odor of alcohol on Appellant’s
    breath and both observed beer cans in his car. The EMT witnesses
    observed an open alcoholic beverage in the driver’s side door, and
    multiple alcoholic beverage cans and bottles scattered throughout
    and around the vehicle. Appellant admitted to the EMT witness
    that he had been drinking. Throughout the encounter, Appellant
    was alert and oriented based on the assessment tools used to
    review his condition, but he did not know where he was.
    On the Glascow Coma Scale, which is used to assess a person’s
    mental status, Appellant scored a perfect fifteen. But multiple
    witnesses testified that Appellant exhibited signs of impairment
    that night. Sergeant Wettstein, who responded to the accident,
    testified that he observed a strong odor of alcohol on Appellant’s
    breath and inside Appellant’s vehicle. He also testified that
    Appellant was dazed, and his eyes were watery, glassy, and
    3
    bloodshot. 2 He noticed that Appellant’s speech was mumbled, slow,
    and slurred. Corporal Tolman spoke with Appellant at the
    hospital. He observed an odor of alcohol on Appellant’s breath and
    a lethargic demeanor. Appellant’s blood sample, taken
    approximately two hours after the accident, showed a blood-
    alcohol content of 0.116 and 0.115.
    Sergeant Bennett with Florida Highway Patrol responded to
    the accident around midnight, and the vehicles had not been
    moved. The victim was still in the driver’s seat of her vehicle, but
    Appellant was no longer on scene. Sergeant Bennett examined the
    scene, took photographs, and prepared a field-sketch diagram. One
    of the photographs of the inside of Appellant’s vehicle depicted beer
    bottles. Another photograph showed beer bottles and cans inside
    and outside the vehicle. Some beer cans were open, and some had
    ruptured.
    Based on the evidence at the scene, including vehicle parts,
    debris, and gouge marks, Sergeant Bennett determined that the
    accident was an offset, head-on collision that occurred in the
    southbound lane, the lane in which the deceased was traveling.
    Appellant testified that at the time of the accident, he had a
    cooler with beer in his car from a previous hunting trip. He had
    both empty and full beer cans in the cooler. He asserted that on
    the night of the accident, he drank three cans of beer and a sip of
    a fourth between 9:40 p.m. and 10:20 p.m. After drinking, he did
    not feel impaired and began driving home around 10:20 p.m. When
    Appellant turned onto the road where the accident occurred, he
    immediately noticed that the vehicle behind him had its bright
    lights on. These lights distracted him, and he tried to get away
    from the lights by passing the vehicles in front of him.
    Appellant testified that before the accident, he again sped up
    to try to pass the car in front of him. He saw a car from the other
    lane move into his lane. Appellant jerked to the left, into the
    opposite lane, to avoid the car. At the same time Appellant jerked
    2 Appellant has one prosthetic eye from a childhood golf
    accident.
    4
    to the left, the oncoming car also moved back into its lane. As a
    result, the cars collided.
    Appellant stated that he told the paramedics, his hospital
    nurse, and two state troopers that he drank alcohol before the
    accident. Appellant testified that he did not feel affected by the
    alcohol he had consumed that night.
    A defense expert witness in forensic medicine testified that
    Appellant’s blood-alcohol content at the time of the accident was
    approximately 0.05, for which no statutory presumption of
    impairment is required.
    Corporal Mueller testified in rebuttal that he obtained the
    event data recorder (“EDR”) from the deceased’s vehicle. 3
    According to the EDR, the deceased was traveling 52.8 miles per
    hour and was using cruise control. There was nothing unusual
    about the deceased’s movements prior to 0.15 seconds before the
    crash. In the final 0.15 seconds before impact, the deceased took
    evasive action by steering to the right, away from Appellant’s
    travel lane, and applying the brakes.
    After Appellant testified, the defense requested to reopen the
    evidentiary and causation issue regarding the deceased’s
    intoxication at the time of the accident. Both parties presented
    extensive argument. The trial court determined that the material
    issue was whether Appellant was in the deceased’s lane. As a
    result, the trial court held, “[i]n this case, I don’t think the
    intoxication of the victim tends to prove who was in whose lane,
    and so I will sustain the objection.”
    The jury found Appellant guilty of DUI manslaughter, as
    charged. Appellant moved for a new trial, arguing in part that the
    trial court erred by excluding evidence of the deceased’s
    intoxication. The trial court once again upheld its previous ruling,
    stating that the deceased’s intoxication and use of drugs at the
    time of the accident had no probative value on causation.
    3 An EDR is like a black box in an airplane, and it reflected
    what was happening in the victim’s vehicle the last 4.56 seconds
    before the accident.
    5
    We review a trial court’s evidentiary ruling for abuse of
    discretion. Johnson v. State, 
    969 So. 2d 938
    , 949 (Fla. 2007). All
    relevant evidence is admissible, and relevant evidence is that
    which tends to prove or disprove a material fact. §§ 90.401-.402,
    Fla. Stat. (2018).
    The third element of DUI manslaughter requires that a
    defendant “cause or contribute to causing” the death of a victim
    while operating a vehicle while impaired. § 316.193(3)(c)3., Fla.
    Stat. (2018) (emphasis added). For a decedent’s conduct to
    constitute a defense to DUI manslaughter, the conduct must be
    viewed as the sole proximate cause of an accident. Miller v. State,
    
    250 So. 3d 144
    , 145 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018).
    Florida’s DUI manslaughter statute imposes an expansive
    responsibility on drivers who consume alcohol and are involved in
    an accident that causes serious injury or death. The Florida
    Supreme Court stated that the statute requires only that the
    operation of a vehicle cause an accident, and “any deviation or lack
    of care on the part of a driver under the influence to which the fatal
    accident can be attributed will suffice.” Magaw v. State, 
    537 So. 2d 564
    , 567 (Fla. 1989) (emphasis added); see also Clark v. State, 
    315 So. 3d 776
    , 780 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021) (“The State must only present
    evidence to show the driver’s conduct contributed to the victim’s
    death.” (emphasis added)).
    This Court has held that it is reversible error to exclude any
    evidence that “tends in any way, even indirectly, to establish a
    reasonable doubt of [a] defendant’s guilt.” Martin v. State, 
    110 So. 3d 936
    , 938 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (quoting Rivera v. State, 
    561 So. 2d 536
    , 539 (Fla. 1990)). But in quoting Rivera, the Court in Martin
    failed to quote the following language: “[h]owever, the
    admissibility of this evidence must be gauged by the same principle
    of relevancy as any other evidence offered by the defendant.” Rivera,
    
    561 So. 2d at 539
     (emphasis added). There, the defendant sought
    to introduce evidence of a similar murder that occurred while the
    defendant was in custody to disprove his commission of the
    charged murder. 
    Id.
     at 539–40. The supreme court upheld the trial
    court’s exclusion of this reverse Williams 4-rule evidence, finding
    4   Williams v. State, 
    110 So. 2d 654
     (Fla. 1959).
    6
    the dissimilarities between the reverse Williams-rule evidence and
    the victim’s murder sufficient to preclude the reverse Williams-
    rule evidence. Rivera, 
    561 So. 2d at
    539–40.
    Thus, even in a death penalty case, a trial court’s ruling
    excluding potentially exculpatory evidence will be upheld if the
    evidence is not sufficiently relevant. And under section 90.403,
    trial courts must exclude even relevant evidence “if its probative
    value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair
    prejudice, confusion of issues, misleading the jury, or needless
    presentation of cumulative evidence.”
    Here, there was an obvious danger in admitting evidence,
    even relevant evidence, that would allow the jury to improperly
    consider the deceased’s intoxication, because the statute requires
    that any fault of the deceased be the sole cause of the fatal collision
    to absolve Appellant of guilt. Appellant violated the statute, even
    if he only contributed to the accident, so the proffered evidence had
    to show that the victim was 100% at fault for the collision. 5
    The excluded evidence did not show that the deceased was
    solely responsible for the fatal accident. In addition, the potential
    danger of this evidence to mislead the jury renders it inadmissible
    under section 90.403. See Marchina v. State, 
    702 So. 2d 1369
     (Fla.
    1st DCA 1997) (holding that the evidence should have been
    excluded under section 90.403, as its very limited probative value
    was outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and was relevant
    only to prove bad character of defendant in violation of section
    90.404(2)(a)). While the trial court did not rely on section 90.403,
    and this rationale, we may consider this logic and legal authority
    5   For a general comparison to a civil case, in Walt Disney
    World Co. v. Wood, 
    515 So. 2d 198
     (Fla. 1987) (superseded by
    statute in Fabre v. Marin, 
    623 So. 2d 1182
     (1993)), the supreme
    court held that a defendant who was only one percent at fault
    remained liable based on joint and several liability. Similarly in
    the criminal context of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide,
    if a criminal defendant contributes in any way to a fatal accident,
    the defendant may be charged and convicted regardless of the fault
    of the deceased or seriously injured victim. While the burdens of
    persuasion are obviously different in civil and criminal cases, the
    rule of joint and several liability is instructive.
    7
    in affirming the judgment. See Childers v. State, 
    936 So. 2d 585
    ,
    593–96 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006) (en banc) (affirming judgment under
    “tipsy coachman” rule, because, although trial court erred in
    excluding evidence as irrelevant, evidence was properly excluded
    under section 90.403). We thus conclude that the trial court did not
    err in excluding this evidence when it carefully and commendably
    considered all aspects of this case.
    And even if the trial court erred, which we do not decide, any
    error was harmless. Here, there is no reasonable possibility that
    excluding evidence of the victim’s intoxication contributed to
    Appellant’s conviction. Cooley v. State, 
    273 So. 3d 258
    , 261 (Fla.
    1st DCA 2019) (holding that the Court “need not decide whether
    the trial court’s decision to allow evidence” was error, as any error
    was harmless); Thorne v. State, 
    271 So. 3d 177
    , 187 (Fla. 1st DCA
    2019) (“Thus, we hold the error was harmless beyond a reasonable
    doubt in light of the extensive inculpatory evidence and the entire
    context” of the excluded evidence).
    Even accepting Appellant’s testimony as credible, Appellant’s
    conduct contributed to the accident. Appellant testified that a car
    crossed into his lane, so he reacted and moved into the opposite
    lane. Based on this evidence alone, Appellant contributed to the
    accident by moving into the lane where the accident occurred. See
    Magaw, 
    537 So. 2d at 567
    ; Clark, 315 So. 3d at 780. Because
    Appellant presented evidence that he caused or contributed to the
    accident, there is no reasonable possibility that the error of
    excluding the evidence of the victim’s intoxication contributed to
    the verdict. See § 316.193(3)(c)3., Fla. Stat.
    In reaching this conclusion, we considered the decision in
    Getts v. State, 
    313 So. 3d 964
     (Fla. 2d DCA 2021), relied on by
    Appellant here, which had not been decided during the trial
    proceedings. In Getts, the court held the trial court erred by
    excluding evidence of an intoxicated driver involved in a fatal
    accident. 313 So. 3d at 968. There, the decedent was a passenger
    of the defendant who was killed when the defendant hit another
    vehicle from behind. Id. at 966.
    In Getts, the defendant was driving in the right-hand lane of
    a four-lane divided highway. Id. at 965–66. The EDR evidence
    8
    showed that Getts was traveling more than one hundred miles per
    hour. Id. at 966. No witness corroborated Getts’ testimony
    claiming that the driver of the other vehicle had veered into Getts’
    lane. Id. Holding that a jury could disbelieve all the State’s
    evidence and believe Getts’s self-serving testimony, the court there
    decided that the evidence of the other driver’s intoxication could
    nevertheless prove that the driver was the sole cause of the
    accident. Id. at 968–69. We find the logic of the decision
    unpersuasive under Magaw, and the facts distinguishable from
    this case, where both the State’s evidence and Appellant’s
    testimony support the trial court’s ruling. 
    537 So. 2d at 567
    .
    Furthermore, the State presented ample, independent
    evidence supporting the jury’s verdict so that knowledge of the
    victim’s intoxication would not have affected Appellant’s
    conviction. Two witnesses testified that Appellant was driving
    erratically eight to ten minutes before the accident occurred.
    Additionally, both witnesses saw Appellant move into the lane
    where the accident occurred, hitting the deceased’s vehicle.
    Multiple witnesses testified that Appellant seemed impaired, and
    Appellant testified that he had consumed alcohol before the
    accident. The State submitted evidence that Appellant’s blood-
    alcohol content on the night of the accident was between a 0.115
    and 0.116. The State also presented evidence that the fatal
    collision occurred in the deceased’s lane, which Appellant never
    contradicts, and which is supported by the information on the
    deceased’s vehicle’s EDR.
    Considering Appellant’s own testimony and the additional
    evidence of Appellant’s impairment, the exclusion of the evidence
    of the decedent’s intoxication was harmless, if error at all.
    See Thorne, 271 So. 3d at 187.
    AFFIRMED.
    NORDBY and TANENBAUM, JJ., concur.
    9
    _____________________________
    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
    _____________________________
    Rick A. Sichta and Susanne K. Sichta of The Sichta Firm, LLC,
    Jacksonville, for Appellant.
    Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Daren L. Shippy, Assistant
    Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
    10