CHARLES VAN PULLEN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the admission of prejudicial hearsay testimony and the giving of a flight instruction were erroneous, requiring reversal.
Defendant was convicted of sexual battery, battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer with violence. The arresting officer testifi…
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PER CURIAM.
Defendant was convicted of sexual battery, battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer with violence. We reverse.
Over defendant’s hearsay objection, the court permitted the arresting officer to testify that he had been advised to be on the lookout for suspects regarding a “possible rape and abduction”. Although there are circumstances in which some of the information in a dispatch to police officers is admissible to explain why the officers were at a particular place at a particular time, the inclusion of the description of the alleged crime in this case was not only unnecessary but highly prejudicial. The admission of this hearsay was therefore erroneous. Jones v. State, 577 So. 2d 606 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991); Harris v. State, 544 So. 2d 322 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989).
Defendant also correctly argues that the court erred in giving a flight instruction. Fenelon v. State, 594 So. 2d 292 (Fla.1992); Smith v. State, 598 So. 2d 1063 (Fla.1992).
We therefore reverse for a new trial.
GLICKSTEIN, C.J., KLEIN, J., and WALDEN, JAMES H., Senior Judge, concur.
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Barnes v. State, 743 So. 2d 1105 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)…ject of attorney professionalism, we feel constrained to observe that this is not the first case in which the conduct of this particular prosecutor has required a new trial. See Cochran v. State, 711 So. 2d 1159 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Klepak v. State, 622 So. 2d 19 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993); and Landry v. State, 620 So. 2d 1099 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993). It is evident from these cases that he has persisted in this improper conduct for more than five years in spite of repeated disapproval of it by our court. Apparently thi…
Authorities Cited
- Rhoda Smith v. State, 598 So. 2d 1063 (Fla. 1992)
- King Anthony Green v. State, 594 So. 2d 292 (Fla. 1992)
- Bartelmy Harris v. State, 544 So. 2d 322 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)
- Jones v. State, 577 So. 2d 606 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)