Bautista v. State

Summary

The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed David Bautista’s convictions and sentences for two counts of first-degree DUI manslaughter with failure to render aid. The court rejected challenges concerning prosecutorial comments, felony enhancement, and multiple convictions arising from one accident, relying on Florida precedent permitting separate DUI manslaughter convictions for deaths of multiple victims. The court certified a question of great public importance concerning the application of the “a/any” test to multiple DUI manslaughter convictions.

Holdings

1. The prosecutor's comments did not constitute fundamental error or reversible error and therefore did not require a new trial.
2. Both DUI-manslaughter convictions were properly enhanced to first-degree felonies because Bautista failed to render aid and provide information for the two victims.
3. Multiple convictions and sentences for DUI manslaughter are permissible when one DUI violation causes the deaths of multiple victims in a single accident.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the prosecutor's comments during opening statement denied Bautista a fair trial and required a new trial.
2. Whether Bautista's failure to render aid and provide information permitted enhancement of both DUI-manslaughter counts to first-degree felonies.
3. Whether multiple convictions and sentences for DUI manslaughter may arise from the deaths of two victims in a single accident, notwithstanding the statutory phrase 'the death of any human being' and the a/any unit-of-prosecution test.

Disposition

affirmed