JOSE ALFREDO DIAZ AND JAY BRYANT LYTLE, APPELLANTS,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1983-11-09
Nos. AP-136, AP-137
SHIVERS and ZEHMER, JJ., concur.
441 So. 2d 1125 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1983)

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 did not err in refusing to allow cross-examination of a prosecution witness regarding unrelated prior testimony, and that the drug trafficking statute is constitutional.


Facts & Procedural History

Diaz and Lytle were convicted of trafficking in cannabis. They appealed, raising several issues including the constitutionality of the statute and the…

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
MILLS, Judge.

MILLS, Judge.

Diaz and Lytle appeal convictions for trafficking in cannabis in excess of one hundred pounds, but less than two thousand pounds. We affirm.

We find no error in the first two issues raised by Diaz "and Lytle. These alleged errors are essentially the same as those this panel found to be without merit when raised by Morito, a codefendant. Morito v. State, 438 So. 2d 836 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983).

Diaz and Lytle’s contention that Section 893.135, Florida Statutes (1981), the drug trafficking statute, is unconstitutional is also without merit. State v. Benitez, 395 So. 2d 514 (Fla.1981).

The final issue raised by Diaz and Lytle is whether the trial court erred when it refused to allow defense counsel to cross-examine Vines, a paid informant and key witness for the prosecution, about Vines’ testimony before a magistrate in North Carolina. The proceedings in that state were completely unrelated to the parties and proceedings in the matter under consideration and occurred after the arrest of Diaz and Lytle. The line of questioning was properly excluded as irrelevant because it would not have been useful in assessing Vines’ credibility or the probative value of his direct testimony. Cf. Morrell v. State, 335 So. 2d 836 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976).

AFFIRMED.

SHIVERS and ZEHMER, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw