WILLIE EVERETT, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the defendant's conviction for selling a controlled substance near a school should be affirmed despite claims of insufficient proof of distance, chain of custody, and prosecutorial misconduct.
[1] Evidence of a measured distance of 866 feet from a school fence line is sufficient to prove an offense occurred within 1,000 feet of a school.
[2] Weekly testing of a measuring device's accuracy, exceeding statutory annual testing requirements, supports the reliability of distance measurements.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe defendant was convicted of selling a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. The arresting officer identified the location, and anothe…
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PER CURIAM.
We affirm the defendant’s conviction for the sale of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, § 893.13(l)(e), Fla. Stat. (1989), notwithstanding his claims that a) there was insufficient proof that the offense occurred within 1,000 feet of a school, b) the chain of custody was insufficient to link the defendant to the cocaine purchased by the undercover policeman, and c) a statement by the prosecutor in closing argument constituted reversible error. In the present case, the arresting officer identified the purchase site as being outside a given street address near an identifiable building. A second officer proceeded to that location and measured the distance of the crime’s occurrence from the school. That officer testified that the buy site measured 866 feet from the school fence line. Any margin of error relative to the distance between the buy site and the school was no more than eight feet since the officer testified that he had measured from a circumference of some eight feet out from the laundromat in front of which the sale occurred.
Moreover, the officer who employed the measuring device testified that on a weekly basis he tested the accuracy of the device by rolling it over an extended tape measure. This weekly testing greatly exceeded the annual test for accuracy required by section 531.41(8), Florida Statutes (1989).
Second, testimony proved that the evidence involved followed an unbroken chain of custody and was at all times identifiable by its case number. Thus, the cocaine was directly tied to this defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.
Finally, the prosecutor’s comment during closing argument to the effect that the defendant and his codefendant had a business partnership to sell drugs did not constitute reversible error because the statement was a logical inference obtained from the evidence. Spencer v. State, 133 So. 2d 729, 731 (Fla.1961), cert, denied, 369 U.S. 880, 82 S.Ct. 1155, 8 L.Ed.2d 283 (1962).
Accordingly, the defendant’s conviction is affirmed.
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State v. Alvarino, 585 So. 2d 1094 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)…SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge. Nothing in Everett v. State, 579 So. 2d 394, 395 (Fla.3d DCA 1991), including the tangential reference to section 531.41(8), Florida Statutes (1989), creates or suggests a requirement that a measuring device used to determine that a drug sale took place less than one thousand feet from a scho…
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Jones v. State, 627 So. 2d 28 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993)…from the sale site to the school used an instrument which was not inspected annually for accuracy by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (ACS). See Section 531.41, Florida Statutes (1991). Jones relies upon Everett v. State, 579 So. 2d 394 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991), another drug-sale case in which the appellant argued insufficient evidence of distance. Although the appellate court did note that the measuring instrument in that case was tested weekly, and therefore more rigorously than the AC…
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Gus Jones v. State, 625 So. 2d 474 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Everett v. State, 579 So. 2d 394 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Mann v. State, 603 So. 2d 1141 (Fla.1992), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1063, 122 L.Ed.2d 368 (1993).…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Emmitt Monroe Spencer v. State, 133 So. 2d 729 (Fla. 1961)
- Litterio v. United States, 369 U.S. 880 (U.S. 1962)
- Tapia v. California, 369 U.S. 880 (U.S. 1962)