GARFIELD JAMES WOODSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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.
The court held that the trial court's exclusion of character evidence regarding the arresting officer was not preserved for appeal due to the defense counsel's failure to make a proper proffer.
[1] Evidence of a person's character is inadmissible to prove that the person acted in conformity with that character on a particular occasion, unless specific exceptions app…
[2] Evidence of a law enforcement officer's character trait may be admissible to show the officer acted as the aggressor in an encounter, similar to self-defense cases.
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 intelligenceWoodson was convicted of resisting an officer without violence and possession of marijuana. During trial, defense counsel attempted to introduce testi…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Proffer Of Evidence cases and more on FLexlaw
SHARP, Judge.
Woodson appeals from his conviction and adjudication of resisting an officer without violence, section 843.02, Florida Statutes (1983), and possession of marijuana. He argues the trial court erred in sustaining the state’s objection to the admission of character evidence of one of the police officers who arrested him. While we agree that error possibly occurred in this case pertaining to the resisting arrest charge,1 we do not think this point was preserved on appeal as no proffer was made or attempted by trial counsel.
At trial defense counsel sought to elicit testimony concerning the officer’s reputation in the community:
DEFENSE COUNSEL: Now, had you seen either of those officers before? A. I seen one of them before. Q. All right. Do you know his name? A. No. Q. Had he been in Sister Reeds before? A. Yes, he come up pretty regular. Q. Does he have a reputation in Sister Reeds? A. Yes. Q. Does he have a reputation in the Parramore community? A. Right. Q. Do you know what that reputation is? PROSECUTOR: I’m going to object, Your Honor. THE COURT: I’ll sustain the objection. ... The court ruled that the officer’s reputation in the community was not admissible under section 90.404 of the Evidence Code because the officer was neither a “victim” nor an “accused.” Section 90.404(1) provides:
Evidence of a person’s character or a trait of his character is inadmissible to prove that he acted in conformity with it on a particular occasion, except: (a) Character of accused. — Evidence of a pertinent trait of his character offerred by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the trait. (b) Character of victim.— 1. Except as provided in s. 794.022, evidence of a pertinent trait of character of the victim of the crime offered by an accused.... Woodson argues he offered the testimony to show that the officer was the aggressor and that in seizing him without any grounds or provocation, he was acting unlawfully. Although a police officer is not thought of as a “victim” in such a context, who was actually the aggressor in the encounter has the same relevance as in a case where self-defense is the issue. See Barnhardt, Charles W., Florida Evidence § 404.6 (2d ed. 1984). If the officer was the aggressor and acting outside his lawful duties, Woodson could have been exonerated for resisting an unlawful arrest without violence. Johnson v. State, 395 So. 2d 594 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981); Lee v. State, 368 So. 2d 395 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1979), cert. denied, 378 So. 2d 349 (Fla.1979).
However, because defense counsel did not proffer to the court what the content of the witness’ testimony was going to be concerning the officer’s reputation, we do not think this error was preserved on appeal. Whitted v. State, 362 So. 2d 668 (Fla.1978); Ketrow v. State, 414 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982); Llanos v. State, 401 So. 2d 848 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). Section 90.104 of the Evidence Code provides:
(1) A court may predicate error, set aside or reverse a judgment, or grant a new trial on the basis of admitted or excluded evidence when a substantial right of the party is adversely affected and: (b) When the ruling is one excluding evidence, the substance of the evidence was made known to the court by offer of proof or was apparent from the context within which the questions were asked. (Emphasis supplied). In this case, defense counsel made no formal offer of proof to the court, and the witness’ response was not “apparent” from the context of the question. Logically, since the defense called him to testify, we assume it would have been adverse to the officer and favorable to Woodson. However, we cannot speculate as to what it would have been. Ketrow v. State, supra.
At the side-bar conference prior to the trial court’s ruling, the defense counsel explained that he was not attacking the officer’s credibility, but “more to his harassment of people in doing this kind of thing.” The trial judge was thus aware of the general thrust and content of the witness’ expected testimony. However, we do not think its relevancy and materiality were also comprised in counsel’s abbreviated proffer. See McD. v. State, 422 So. 2d 336 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1982).
AFFIRMED.
DAUKSCH and UPCHURCH, JJ„ concur. . Woodson was charged with resisting arrest with violence, section 843.01, Florida Statutes (1983), and was convicted of resisting arrest without violence, section 843.02, Florida Statutes (1983). Defense counsel requested the instruction on section 843.02.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Smith v. State, 606 So. 2d 641 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…r the purpose of demonstrating that appellant’s [*644] apprehension as to the harm threatened by the victim was reasonable. We also reject the state's argument that this evidentiary rule should be limited to homicide cases. Compare Woodson v. State, 483 So. 2d 858 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986) (although issue not preserved by proffer, evidence of reputation of officer would have been admissible to establish he was the aggressor in resisting-an-officer charge); Pino v. Koelber, 389 So. 2d 1191 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980) (discus…
-
Dupree v. State, 615 So. 2d 713 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)…arren v. State, 577 So. 2d 682, 684 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Webster v. State, 500 So. 2d 285, 287 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Quintana v. State, 452 So. 2d 98, 100 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Hodge v. State, 315 So. 2d 507, 510 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975); Woodson v. State, 483 So. 2d 858, 859 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Pino v. [*721] Koelber, 389 So. 2d 1191, 1194 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980); Banks v. State, 351 So. 2d 1071, 1072 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 354 So. 2d 986 (Fla.1977). Moreover, federal courts, in interpreting Federal Rule of Evid…
-
Quinn v. State, 662 So. 2d 947 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995)…n the owner(s), those persons who have the ultimate power to hire and fire the managers can be considered as controlling the enterprise for the purposes of this rule chapter. . Anderson v. State, 546 So. 2d 65 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989); Woodson v. State, 483 So. 2d 858 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Gilling v. State, 443 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983); Thomas v. State, 424 So. 2d 193 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). . Lowe’s of Tallahassee v. Giaimo, 552 So. 2d 304 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989); Saul v. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Found…
Previewing 3 of 9 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Whitted v. State, 362 So. 2d 668 (Fla. 1978)
- LEE v. State, 368 So. 2d 395 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)
- Johnson v. State, 395 So. 2d 594 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981)
- Cosme Rodriguez v. Fla. Parole & Prob. Comm'n, 422 So. 2d 336 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- McD. v. State, 422 So. 2d 336 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)
- Ketrow v. State, 414 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982)
- Llanos v. State, 401 So. 2d 848 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)