BILLY JOHNSON, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Billy Johnson was convicted of carrying a concealed firearm under Florida law. The appellate court reversed his conviction, finding that the state failed to present any evidence proving the firearm was actually concealed on his person at the time of seizure.
The state failed to present sufficient evidence to establish that the firearm was concealed. Because the officer who seized the firearm did not testify and the other officer present could provide no evidence about whether the firearm was concealed before seizure, the essential element of concealment was not proven.
[1] A conviction for carrying a concealed firearm requires proof that the firearm was, in fact, concealed on the defendant's person.
[2] Sufficiency of evidence is a question of law reviewed de novo.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a total lack of evidence as to where the firearm was situated with reference to the defendant's body at the time it was seized from the defendant by the police”
Establishes the critical evidentiary gap in the state's case regarding concealment
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePolice seized a firearm from defendant Billy Johnson. The officer who actually seized the firearm did not testify at trial. The only police testimony …
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PER CURIAM.
The defendant Billy Johnson appeals a judgment of conviction and sentence for carrying a concealed firearm [§ 790.01(2), Fla.Stat. (1979)], entered below and contends that the state’s evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to establish that the firearm which he possessed, was, in fact, concealed. We entirely agree as our review of the record demonstrates a total lack of evidence as to where the firearm was situated with reference to the defendant’s body at the time it was seized from the defendant by the police. Indeed, the police officer who seized the firearm from the defendant did not testify below; the state’s only evidence as to the seizure of said firearm came from another police officer present at the scene of the arrest and he could give no testimony on whether the subject firearm was concealed prior to its seizure from the defendant. It is plain, then, that no evidence was adduced below as to whether the firearm in question was concealed on the defendant’s person as charged in the information.
Moreover, the defendant’s testimony at trial tends to indicate that the subject firearm was, in fact, not concealed. We, accordingly, have no alternative but to re verse the judgment and sentence under review for failure of the state to establish an essential element of the crime charged, to wit: the concealment of the firearm herein. Quiroga v. State, 364 So. 2d 47 (Fla.3d DCA 1978), dismissed, 370 So. 2d 462 (Fla.1979); Donald v. State, 344 So. 2d 633 (Fla.2d DCA), cert. denied, 353 So. 2d 679 (Fla.1977).
The judgment of conviction and sentence under review is reversed and the cause is remanded to the trial court with directions to discharge the defendant from the cause.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Quiroga v. State, 364 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- Donald v. State, 344 So. 2d 633 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977)