LUIS COBAS-TORRES, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The Florida Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the defendant's manslaughter conviction but reversed and remanded the sentence because the trial court improperly reclassified the offense to a first-degree felony without specific jury findings that a firearm was used during the crime.
Although the trial court erred in excluding evidence of a prior inconsistent statement by a prosecution witness, this error was harmless in light of overwhelming evidence of guilt. However, the court erred in reclassifying the manslaughter conviction to a first-degree felony because the verdict lacked specific findings that the defendant used or carried a firearm, as required by statute.
[1] A trial court's error in refusing to permit a defendant to introduce extrinsic evidence of a prosecution witness's prior inconsistent statement is harmless when the evide…
[2] A jury verdict must contain specific findings that a defendant used or carried a firearm during the commission of an offense to support a reclassification of the convicti…
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“Although the trial court erred in refusing to permit defendant to introduce extrinsic evidence of a prior inconsistent statement made by a prosecution witness, § 90.614(2), Fla.Stat. (1983), we deem the error harmless because the evidence of guilt was overwhelming.”
Establishes that exclusion of evidence of prior inconsistent statements is subject to harmless error analysis when overwhelming evidence of guilt exists.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceLuis Cobas-Torres was convicted of manslaughter. The trial court subsequently reclassified the conviction from a second-degree felony to a first-degre…
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PER CURIAM.
Although the trial court erred in refusing to permit defendant to introduce extrinsic evidence of a prior inconsistent statement made by a prosecution witness, § 90.614(2), Fla.Stat. (1983), we deem the error harmless because the evidence of guilt was overwhelming. Mahone v. State, 222 So. 2d 769 (Fla.3d DCA 1969); § 924.33, Fla.Stat. (1983); cf. Thornes v. State, 485 So. 2d 1357 (Fla. .1st DCA) (exclusion of testimony regarding prior inconsistent statement of sole eyewitness to crime not harmless error considering other errors made by trial court), review denied, 492 So. 2d 1335 (Fla.1986); see Palmes v. State, 397 So. 2d 648 (Fla.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 882, 102 S.Ct. 369, 70 L.Ed.2d 195 (1981); see generally State v. DiGuilio, 491 So. 2d 1129 (Fla.1986).
We find error, however, in the judgment. The trial judge reclassified defendant’s conviction for manslaughter from a second-degree felony, §§ 782.07, 775.-082(3)(c), Fla.Stat. (1983), to a first-degree felony pursuant to section 775.087(l)(b), Florida Statutes (1983). The verdict failed to contain specific findings that defendant used or carried a firearm during the commission of the offense; thus, the verdict cannot support the trial court’s reclassification. State v. Smith, 462 So. 2d 1102 (Fla.1985); State v. Overfelt, 457 So. 2d 1385 (Fla.1984); Henry v. State, 483 So. 2d 860 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Daniels v. State, 473 So. 2d 722 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Lopez v. State, 470 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); Streeter v. State, 416 So. 2d 1203,1206 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). We therefore reverse the sentence and remand to the trial court for entry of an appropriate judgment and for resentencing.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Brindley Marshall v. State, 529 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)…required jury finding that the offense was committed with a firearm. See State v. Overfelt, 457 So. 2d 1385 (Fla.1984); Douglas v. State, 523 So. 2d 704 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988); LaMarca v. State, 515 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); Cobas-Torres v. State, 502 So. 2d 67 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); Streeter v. State, 416 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). Although the verdict did not expressly contain a finding that the defendant committed the offense of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm, it stated that the defenda…
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Spellman v. State, 529 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)…uct during the commission of the crime, including threats to use a firearm or weapon during the commission of the robbery, coupled with the ability to carry out such threats. Cf. State v. Overfelt, 457 So. 2d 1385 (Fla. 1984); Cobas-Torres v. State, 502 So. 2d 67 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (In the absence of specific findings that defendant used or carried a firearm during the commission of the offense, it was error to reclassify defendant’s conviction for manslaughter from second-degree felony to first-degree felon…
Authorities Cited (12 total)
- State v. DiGUILIO, 491 So. 2d 1129 (Fla. 1986)
- Johnson v. Florida, 454 U.S. 882 (U.S. 1981)
- State v. Overfelt, 457 So. 2d 1385 (Fla. 1984)
- Palmes v. State, 397 So. 2d 648 (Fla. 1981)
- Murrell Streeter v. State, 416 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)
- Mahone v. State, 222 So. 2d 769 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969)
- State v. Smith, 462 So. 2d 1102 (Fla. 1985)
- Lopez v. State, 470 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
- Thornes v. State, 485 So. 2d 1357 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
- Henry v. State, 483 So. 2d 860 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986)