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

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District2019-03-06No. No. 4D17-2220
267 So. 3d 16

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Opinion

majority opinion

Per Curiam.

We affirm appellants 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).

Warner, Ciklin and Levine, JJ., concur.