HOWARD COSATIME, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the evidence was sufficient for conviction and that the departure sentence was valid despite one invalid ground.
The defendant approached the victim, pulled a gun, and ordered the victim to stay, but the victim fled and was shot in the back. The victim identified…
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PER CURIAM.
Without uttering a reason, the defendant allegedly approached the victim on a street corner, pulled a gun, and ordered the victim to remain in place. Ignoring the instruction, the victim fled and was shot in the back. The defendant, who had recently been released from prison, got into an automobile and left the scene.
The victim testified that he fled because he recognized the defendant as a feared person who had previously been involved in an altercation with a mutual acquaintance. He identified the defendant from a batch of police photographs, calling him by his street name “Poppy Dread.” He again identified the defendant at trial.
Cosatime, the alleged gunman, appeals his conviction for aggravated battery entered on a jury verdict. Two issues are raised, one challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, and the other challenging the validity of a departure sentence where one of the two grounds given was invalid. Neither point has merit. See Tibbs v. State, 397 So. 2d 1120 (Fla.) (conflicts in evidence must be resolved in favor of a jury verdict), cert. granted, 454 U.S. 963, 102 S.Ct. 502, 70 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), aff'd, 457 U.S. 31, 102 S.Ct. 2211, 72 L.Ed.2d 652 (1982); § 921.001(5), Fla.Stat. (1989) (sentence will be upheld where at least one factor justifies departure).
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Rias v. State, 653 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995)…(d)(11). This reason is an invalid reason for departure. The second reason given for departure was the location of the crime at a correctional facility. If this one remaining reason is valid, then the departure sentence is valid. Cosatime v. State, 570 So. 2d 396 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). However, this reason is also invalid. Section 784.07 provides that when a person is charged with battery upon a law enforcement officer while the officer is engaged in the lawful performance of duties, the offense shall be reclas…
Authorities Cited
- Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31 (U.S. 1982)
- Delbert Lee Tibbs v. State, 397 So. 2d 1120 (Fla. 1981)
- United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 454 U.S. 963 (U.S. 1981)
- Gomez v. Idaho, 454 U.S. 963 (U.S. 1981)