MANUEL BURT HUTCHINSON A/K/A SKIPPER HUTCHINSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1981-05-04
No. VV-209
BOOTH and LARRY G. SMITH, JJ., and OWEN, WILLIAM C., Jr., (Retired) Associate Judge, concur.
397 So. 2d 1001 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1981) Caution
Cited by 20 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the trial court erred by failing to conduct an adequate Richardson inquiry and by admitting impeachment testimony without a proper predicate, requiring reversal.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must conduct a full Richardson inquiry to determine prejudice when a discovery violation becomes apparent.

[2] A defendant's statement is within the constructive possession of the state for discovery purposes when officers are aware of the statement, even if the state attorney is…

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The defendant was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The state introduced testimony abou…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Hutchinson appeals from convictions of aggravated battery with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, urging the trial court erred during the trial by making an inadequate Richardson

inquiry and by admitting impeachment testimony without a proper predicate. We agree and reverse for a new trial.

The charges against Hutchinson arose out of an argument between Hutchinson and the victim occurring at approximately 5 a. m. in a lounge parking lot. Although there were many witnesses to the resulting altercation, there was conflicting evidence as to whether Hutchinson shot a gun at the victim. On the second day of trial, the state introduced the testimony of an arresting officer who testified over objection to a statement that Hutchinson made which essentially showed that Hutchinson had indeed used a gun. The trial court undertook a Richardson inquiry, finding that' Hutchinson’s statement was discovered simultaneously by the prosecutor and defense counsel during an informal interview of the officer the day before. For this reason, he ruled the statement admissible.

Initially, we find that an inquiry was necessary to determine prejudice when it became apparent that a discovery violation existed. See Cooper v. State, 377 So. 2d 1153 (Fla.1979). As to the existence of a violation, it is clear that a defendant may be entitled to discovery of materials within the constructive possession of the state. See State v. Coney, 272 So. 2d 550 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973), affirmed, 294 So. 2d 82 (Fla.1973).

Therefore, in Taylor v. State, 292 So. 2d 375 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974), we determined that a defendant’s statement was in the state’s constructive possession when officers knew of the statement but the state attorney was not personally aware of it at the time he responded to the defendant’s discovery request. In Taylor, when , the state attorney learned of the statement 30 minutes before trial, he promptly advised defense counsel that the officers would testify to the statement. Here, there was apparently no attempt made by the state to discover the information known to the arresting officer. These facts trigger the need for a full Richardson inquiry. There was no determined inquiry into the question of procedural prejudice to the defendant. See Wilcox v. State, 367 So. 2d 1020, 1022-1023 (Fla.1979) (also stating the minimal three-prong inquiry to be made).

The clear failure of the trial court to make the inquiry concerning prejudice requires reversal. Lavigne v. State, 349 So. 2d 178 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977) and cases cited therein.

Finally, the case here is virtually indistinguishable from the circumstances in Easterling v. State, 397 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), wherein this Court also reversed and remanded for a new trial because of the trial court’s failure to conduct a full inquiry.

The trial court also committed error by permitting a state’s rebuttal witness to testify to a prior inconsistent statement of a defense witness over the objection that the defense witness had not been given an opportunity to admit or deny the prior statements. Section 90.614(2), Florida Statutes (1979) states in pertinent part:

Extrinsic evidence of a prior inconsistent statement by a witness is inadmissible unless the witness is first afforded an opportunity to explain or deny the prior statement and the opposing party is afforded an opportunity to interrogate him on it, or the interests of justice otherwise require. If a witness denies making or does not distinctly admit that he has made the prior inconsistent statement, extrinsic evidence of such statement is admissible.

The state urges that on cross examination the defense witness was given such an opportunity when she was asked generally to whom had she first reported what she had seen, regarding the altercation and she failed to mention the rebuttal witness. We think the plain terms of Section 90.614(2) certainly contemplate a more direct reference to the prior inconsistent statement; without this, there is no genuine opportunity to explain or deny the prior statement.

Finally, although in other contexts we would be tempted to find the impeached testimony to have concerned matters only cumulative in nature, we find that in this particular case the error was harmful because of the number of witnesses on both sides, the attacks on credibility of all witnesses, and the materiality of the impeached testimony itself.

Accordingly, the cause is reversed and remanded for a new trial.

BOOTH and LARRY G. SMITH, JJ., and OWEN, WILLIAM C., Jr., (Retired) Associate Judge, concur. . Richardson v. State, 246 So. 2d 771 (Fla.1971).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Hoctor v. Tucker, 432 So. 2d 1352 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983)
    …be admitted in evidence, the witness allegedly making the statement must be asked if he made the statement and be given the opportunity to explain, admit or deny making the statement. Section 90.-614(2), Florida Statutes (1981); Hutchinson v. State, 397 So. 2d 1001 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); Studstill v. State, 394 So. 2d 1040 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). The same rule applied prior to the adoption of the Florida Evidence Code. See Hancock v. McDonald, 148 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963). Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91…
  • Thornes v. State, 485 So. 2d 1357 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
    …The state argues that section 90.-614(2), Florida Statutes (1983), bars the admissibility of the proffered testimony because Andrew was not afforded the requisite opportunity to explain or deny his prior inconsistent statement. Hutchinson v. State, 397 So. 2d 1001 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). [*1359] No doubt the predicate for impeaching Andrew was not laid as artfully as some might prefer, but the occasion of the prior inconsistent statement was sufficiently identified at trial to permit Andrew to explain any statem…
    1 / 2
  • Griffin v. State, 598 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …state to disclose the names, addresses and statements of “all persons known to the prosecutor to have information which may be relevant to the offense charged.” The knowledge of law enforcement agencies is imputed to the state. Hutchinson v. State, 397 So. 2d 1001 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Here, the state was held to the knowledge of Officer Blagrove who was working in conjunction with Pensacola police. The problem was compounded when Blagrove, in his deposition, denied that any other eyewitness existed. The stat…

Previewing 3 of 9 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw