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Esler v. State10/7/2005
Tina Esler appeals her Hillsborough County convictions for driving under the influence with serious bodily injury and leaving the scene of a crash with injuries. We affirm Esler's conviction for leaving the scene of a crash with injuries as discussed below. However, because the State failed to prove the corpus delicti of the offense of driving under the influence with serious bodily injury before the admission of Esler's confession, we must reverse that conviction.
On November 2, 2003, in Hillsborough County, Jim Latent was in his wheelchair in the parking lot of an establishment when he was hit by a car that fled the scene. As a result of the crash, Mr. Latent's leg was broken in three places. At trial he testified that he could not supply a more detailed description of the vehicle other than it was a white car. Mr. Latent testified that he did not see who was driving the car but stated, without objection, that he had been told by witnesses that the driver was a woman. No other witnesses to the offense testified at trial.
Trooper Helen McCoy testified that on that same day, in Polk County, she was called to the scene of a one-vehicle crash in which a white, four-door Buick had driven through a fence and hit a tree. The trooper approached a woman standing next to an ambulance who was visibly upset and crying. The woman identified herself as Esler. The trooper questioned Esler about the Polk County accident, and post-Miranda, Esler admitted that she had been driving the white Buick. Esler was taken into custody for an unrelated offense, and Trooper McCoy transported her to the scene of the Hillsborough County hit-and-run crash.
When Esler arrived at the scene of the Hillsborough County crash, Trooper Ronald Drake was investigating. Trooper Drake testified that Esler appeared to be extremely intoxicated. Esler was questioned and based upon speaking with her and her appearance, the trooper charged her with DUI. The trooper testified that post-Miranda, Esler admitted that she had been driving the white Buick that morning and had sped out of the parking lot of the Hillsborough County establishment where the hit and run had occurred. She admitted to the trooper that she had been drinking just prior to the time she exited the parking lot.
At trial, testimony was presented that a white Buick had knocked down a fence and hit a tree in Polk County and there was damage to the front end of that vehicle, mainly on the driver's side. However, there was no physical evidence connecting any of the damage to the Buick with Mr. Latent or his wheelchair in Hillsborough County. The State did not present any witnesses who observed either the Hillsborough County or the Polk County crash. Other than her post-Miranda confessions, there was no evidence placing Esler behind the wheel of the vehicle involved in the Hillsborough County crash.
Esler argues that the trial court erred when it allowed the introduction of her confession into evidence before the State had proven the corpus delicti of the offenses of DUI with serious bodily injury and leaving the scene of a crash with injuries. Prior to admitting a confession into evidence, the corpus delicti of an offense must be established because " person's confession to a crime is not sufficient evidence of a criminal act where no independent direct or circumstantial evidence exists to substantiate the occurrence of a crime. The judicial quest for truth requires that no person be convicted out of derangement, mistake or official fabrication." State v. Allen, 335 So. 2d 823, 825 (Fla. 1976).
While the elements of the corpus delicti of an offense can be established by circumstantial evidence and such evidence need not b
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