JOSEPH MACK, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Affirmed conviction for vehicle theft where circumstantial evidence—defendant's presence at scene moments after accident and unauthorized use of employer's truck—was sufficient to support jury verdict under State v. Law standard.
Circumstantial evidence that defendant was present at the accident scene moments after the truck left the employer's premises without authorization, combined with denied permission to use the vehicle, was sufficient to support a conviction for theft.
[1] Circumstantial evidence of presence at scene shortly after unauthorized departure of vehicle, combined with prior denial of permission to use vehicle, is sufficient to su…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMack was found at the scene of an accident involving his employer's stolen truck. Eyewitness testimony placed him at the employer's place of business …
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PER CURIAM.
Mack was found at the scene of an accident involving his employer’s truck, which had been reported as stolen. Eyewitness testimony placed him behind the wheel of the truck a short while earlier at the employer’s place of business. His supervisor had previously denied him permission to use the truck to pick up something for lunch. No one testified, however, to actually seeing him drive the truck, and no one testified that he was even seen in the truck at the scene of the accident. He was indisputably, however, at the scene moments after the accident occurred.
The issue on appeal is whether the trial judge should have granted his motion for a judgment of acquittal. Under the well known standard of State v. Law, 559 So. 2d 187 (Fla.1989) — if the state fails to adduce evidence that is inconsistent with the defendant’s hypothesis of innocence, the motion must be granted — we conclude that there is circumstantial evidence of guilt that the jury could have believed to convict.
Mack’s presence in the truck after his employer had told him he could not use the truck to get lunch, and his presence at the scene just seconds after the accident and after the truck had unauthorizedly left the employer’s premises, permitted the jury to infer that he was the driver of the truck at the time of the accident and thus guilty of stealing it.
AFFIRMED.
DELL, GUNTHER and FARMER, JJ., concur.