CopyCited 9 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
...A screwdriver was found under the rear of the car, metal shavings were on the rear bumper, and the hatchback lock was "all chewed up." At the charge conference, the defendant requested that the court instruct the jury on the offense of tampering with a motor vehicle under Section 860.17, Florida Statutes (1979). The court refused this requested instruction. Piantadosi was convicted of the crime charged, attempted burglary of a conveyance. Section 860.17, Florida Statutes (1979), proscribes both the offense of tampering and attempting to tamper with motor vehicles....
...It is well settled that a statute must be read, if possible, so as to give meaning to all its parts. State v. Rodriguez,
365 So.2d 157 (Fla. 1978); Wilensky v. Fields,
267 So.2d 1 (Fla. 1972). To give content to the statutory words "attempts to tamper," we must read Section
860.17 as meaning that an attempt occurs where there is an act of tampering which does not result in the vehicle becoming unloaded or its contents being removed....
...State,
206 So.2d 377 (Fla. 1968), a category four lesser-included offense of the crime charged. It was therefore necessary for the trial court, upon the defendant's request, to charge the jury on the tampering and attempted tampering offenses defined by Section
860.17, Florida Statutes....
...We are compelled *385 to reverse the defendant's conviction and remand for a new trial. NOTES [1] Generally, where an attempt is proscribed only by the attempt statute, Section
777.04, Florida Statutes, it is a crime of a lesser degree than the completed crime. In Section
860.17, Florida Statutes, the legislature chose to punish the attempt to tamper in the same manner as the completed crime of tampering, a choice within the legislative prerogative....
