HOWARD RAY CUTRELL, 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 defendant participated in one overall conspiracy, not two separate ones, and should have been convicted of only one conspiracy charge.
The defendant was convicted of two separate conspiracy charges related to cocaine trafficking, allegedly occurring at different times and involving di…
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 Conspiracy To Traffic In Cocaine cases and more on FLexlaw
COWART, Judge.
The defendant was convicted of a charge of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine allegedly occurring between May 1 and May 30, 1985 and involving an airplane flight from Colombia on May 24, 1985. The defendant was also convicted of a charge of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine allegedly occurring between June 1 and June 25, 1985, and involving an attempted airplane flight to Colombia on June 26, 27 or 28, 1985.
The evidence shows that one overall conspiracy to traffic in cocaine by a series of airplane trips to and from Colombia commenced in February, 1985 and continued until late June, 1985 and that the defendant joined and became a member of that conspiracy in May, 1985. The evidence establishes that in this case there was one overall conspiracy conspiring to traffic in cocaine by making a series of airplane trips to and from Colombia as distinguished from, and opposed to, a series of separate and distinct conspiracies each relating to one airplane trip. The defendant participated in one conspiracy to commit two crimes and should have been convicted of but one conspiracy charge. See Cummings v. State, 514 So. 2d 406 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987); Cam v. State, 433 So. 2d 38, 39 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Epps v. State, 354 So. 2d 441 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), cert. denied, 360 So. 2d 1250 (1978).
The defendant’s conviction and sentence for conspiracy under Count IV of case number 88-4593-ES is reversed. The defendant’s conviction and the imposition of the fifteen year minimum mandatory sentence 1 under Count III of case number 88-4593-ES is affirmed.
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part.
W. SHARP and GOSHORN, JJ., concur. . § 893.135(l)(b)3, Fla.Stat.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Donovan v. State, 572 So. 2d 522 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…Ct. 2296, 73 L.Ed.2d 1300 (1982). The five factors are modified versions of the factors long used to determine whether multiple indictments charge the existence of one or several conspiracies. United States v. Ruggiero. We held in Cutrell v. State, 560 So. 2d 354 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990), that a defendant was unlawfully convicted of two conspiracy charges when the evidence showed that there was one overall conspiracy to traffic in cocaine by making a series of airplane trips to and from Colombia during May and Ju…
-
Durden v. State, 901 So. 2d 967 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)…39-40; see also Cummings v. State, 514 So. 2d 406, 408 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987). The evidence demonstrates that Durden and several other persons had an agree [*969] ment to purchase, possess, and sell large quantities of cocaine. As in Cutrell v. State, 560 So. 2d 354, 354 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990), the evidence in the present case establishes that there was one overall conspiracy to traffic in cocaine by co-conspirator(s) making a series of trips to Miami and the cocaine was thereafter distributed in Florida and Georg…
-
Alvarez-Botero v. State, 562 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…appealed his two conspiracy convictions to this court and we held that there was but one overall conspiracy involving several criminal acts rather than several conspiracies, and reversed one of Cutrell’s conspiracy convictions. See Cutrell v. State, 560 So. 2d 354 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990). For the same reason we reverse this defendant’s conviction and sentence for conspiracy under Count IV of case number 88-260CF in the circuit court of Volusia County, Florida. We also must reverse the conviction of racketeering…
Authorities Cited
- Norris Epps v. State, 354 So. 2d 441 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)
- CAM v. State, 433 So. 2d 38 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)
- Cummings v. State, 514 So. 2d 406 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)