David Brown v. State Florida

We affirm Brown's conviction for attempted manslaughter with a firearm, simple assault and shooting into an occupied vehicle.
We find no error in permitting the impeachment evidence that Brown was fired from his job as a correctional officer after
he had previously testified that he had quit. The trial judge obviously saw the original testimony as an attempt to enhance
Brown's credibility by his testimony that he himself had been a law enforcement officer, and we are unable to find any abuse
of discretion in that conclusion. We do find error, however, in sentencing Brown to a minimum mandatory three year sentence for attempted manslaughter with
a firearm under § 775.082(2), Fla.Stat. (1989). The supreme court has authoritatively construed that statute as not extending
to manslaughter. Murray v. State, 491 So.2d 1120 (Fla. 1986); see also Whitehead v. State, 446 So.2d 194 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984).
On remand the trial court is instructed to delete the minimum mandatory three year part of the sentence.