DAVID VINSON CLARK, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court affirmed armed robbery conviction, holding that evidence of the defendant carrying a firearm was legally sufficient where the victim, trained in firearms, testified to observing what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun.
Evidence that the defendant carried a firearm is legally sufficient for armed robbery conviction when the victim, with military firearms training, directly testified to observing what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun.
[1] Evidence of a firearm is legally sufficient for armed robbery conviction when a victim with firearms training directly testifies to observing what appeared to be a small-…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant was convicted of armed robbery. The victim, who had received firearms training in the military, testified that he observed appellant holding…
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WEBSTER, Judge.
In this direct criminal appeal, appellant seeks review of his armed robbery conviction. The sole issue raised is whether the trial court erroneously denied appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal because the evidence was legally insufficient to establish that appellant was carrying “a firearm or other deadly weapon” at the time of the offense. § 812.13(2)(a), Fla.Stat. (1991). We affirm.
We agree with the state that appellant failed to preserve for review the issue he now seeks to raise. E.g., Showers v. State, 570 So. 2d 377 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Cornwell v. State, 425 So. 2d 1189 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Moreover, even if the issue had been preserved for appeal, the result would not be different. Unlike Butler v. State, 602 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), upon which appellant relies, in this case the evidence in support of the proposition that appellant carried “a firearm or other deadly weapon” included direct testimony by the victim (who had received firearms training in the military) that he had actually observed appellant holding what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun. Such evidence is sufficient to distinguish this ease from Butler, and to justify submitting it to the jury.
AFFIRMED.
JOANOS and KAHN, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Costa T. Vathis v. State, 729 So. 2d 453 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)…to renew the motion for judgment of acquittal he made at the close of the state’s evidence. See Morris v. State, 721 So. 2d 725, 726 (Fla.1998). But that motion did not preserve the sufficiency points now argued on appeal. See, e.g., Clark v. State, 635 So. 2d 68, 68-69 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Showers v. State, 570 So. 2d 377, 378 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Cornwell v. State, 425 So. 2d 1189, 1190 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). The motion for judgment of acquittal made at the close of the state’s case raised only the issue of…
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Thompson v. State, 748 So. 2d 394 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)…nlike Butler and Prosser, however, the victim in this case testified that he saw “the shape of a gun ... the handle and the trigger and part of the barrel” which had been revealed by appellant during the commission of the robbery. In Clark v. State, 635 So. 2d 68 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994), this court suggested that direct testimony of a victim, who had received firearms training in the military, “that he actually observed what appeared to be a small caliber handgun,” was sufficient to sustain an armed robbery conv…
Authorities Cited
- Butler v. State, 602 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
- Showers v. State, 570 So. 2d 377 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
- Ford v. Wainwright, 425 So. 2d 1189 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)
- Cornwell v. State, 425 So. 2d 1189 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)