JACKSON v. STATE (2019)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

Secret JACKSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 4D17-2220

Decided: March 06, 2019

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Patrick B. Burke, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant. Ashley B. Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Deborah Koenig, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

We affirm appellant's conviction and sentence for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, which was enhanced to a first-degree felony for use of a firearm and resulted in a thirty-year prison sentence. Appellant contends that because the jury found that she used a firearm, she should have been convicted and sentenced for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, which could not be enhanced. Appellant is incorrect. When the State charges a defendant with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm based on section 784.045(1)(a)1., Florida Statutes (2017), and not section 784.045(1)(a)2., a deadly weapon is not an essential element of the crime, and the crime can be reclassified upward. See Lareau v. State, 573 So.2d 813, 814 (Fla. 1991); see also Stoute v. State, 915 So.2d 1245, 1247 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (same).

We affirm as to the remaining issues raised as the claimed errors either lacked merit or were harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla. 1986).

Per Curiam.

Warner, Ciklin and Levine, JJ., concur.

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