GREGORY WILLIAMS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1989-06-13
No. 88-2870
Before BARKDULL, JORGENSON and GERSTEN, JJ.
544 So. 2d 1114 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1989) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

[*1115] PER CURIAM.

Gregory Williams appeals a judgment of conviction for second degree murder. He contends that his confession to the police, given while he was in the hospital recovering from surgery for self-inflicted wounds, cannot be characterized as free and voluntary and should have been suppressed by the trial court. We disagree.

The order on Williams’s motion to suppress his statements details the circumstances surrounding the confession and reflects ample evidentiary support for the trial court’s conclusion that Williams knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda rights. State v. Isaac, 465 So. 2d 1384 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). While the state’s single reference during closing argument to the tears of the victim’s parents was an improper appeal to the sympathy of the jury, Macias v. State, 447 So. 2d 1020 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), the isolated comment does not rise to the level of reversible error. See Erwin v. State, 532 So. 2d 724 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988), rev. denied, 542 So. 2d 1333 (Fla.1989).

Affirmed.


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  • Williams v. State, 689 So. 2d 393 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)
    …nd to place itself in the victim’s position. However, assuming, arguendo, that the statement could be construed as an improper reference to Alexander’s suffering, the isolated comment was harmless and does not mandate a new trial. Williams v. State, 544 So. 2d 1114, 1115 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)(“state’s single reference during closing argument to the tears of the [murder] victim’s parents was an improper appeal to the sympathy of the jury” but not reversible error). Sixth, Williams argues that the trial court abus…
  • Mohammed v. State, 765 So. 2d 808 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)
    …PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Cherry v. State, 659 So. 2d 1069 (Fla.1995); Williams v. State, 544 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), and Bruno v. State, 574 So. 2d 76, 79-80 (Fla.1991). THOMPSON, C.J., W. SHARP, and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.…

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