OLGA LESTER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed probation revocation where the state failed to establish that the appellant was the person identified in two conviction documents and introduced no evidence regarding two other criminal charges.
Probation revocation based on criminal convictions requires evidence linking the probationer to those convictions, not merely certified copies with a different name spelling.
[1] In a probation violation hearing, the state must introduce evidence establishing that the probationer is the person identified in conviction documents, not merely certifi…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The state might properly have called appellant as a witness and asked her if she was the same person involved in the two judgments of conviction.”
Court explaining the proper procedure for establishing identity in probation violation proceedings.
Appellant's probation was revoked based on four criminal acts. The state introduced certified copies of two judgments identifying the defendant as "Ol…
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PER CURIAM.
We reverse the trial court’s order revoking appellant’s probation and imposing sentence. The revocation was based on appellant’s commission of four criminal acts, as reflected in four criminal cases, each with its own case number. For two of these charges, the state introduced certified copies of the judgment of conviction. On these documents, the defendant was identified as “Olga Elster.” There was no evidence introduced at the violation of probation hearing that appellant was the person convicted in these two eases.
The state might properly have called appellant as a witness and asked her if she was the same person involved in the two judgments of conviction. See Watson v. State, 388 So. 2d 15, 16 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Hall v. State, 421 So. 2d 188, 189 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982); Bearing v. State, 388 So. 2d 296, 298 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). However, there was no testimony at the hearing linking appellant to the two certified copies of the criminal convictions. There was no evidence introduced at the hearing concerning the two other criminal charges.
We reverse the order finding appellant guilty of violating her probation and remand the case to the circuit court where the order shall be vacated.
POLEN, GROSS and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Watson v. State, 388 So. 2d 15 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
- Dearing v. State, 388 So. 2d 296 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)
- Hall v. State, 421 So. 2d 188 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982)