A.D., A JUVENILE, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2002-06-05
No. 3D01-3317
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and GODERICH and SORONDO, JJ.
817 So. 2d 1027 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2002) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

A juvenile was found guilty of loitering and prowling under Florida Statute § 856.021 after being arrested while walking down a Miami Beach street at 4:23 a.m. The appellate court reversed, finding the evidence insufficient to prove the statutory elements of the offense.


Holding

The evidence was insufficient to support a finding of guilt for loitering and prowling. Merely walking down a street at 4:30 a.m., even though it may violate a juvenile curfew, is legally insufficient to prove the statutory elements of loitering and prowling, which require evidence of incipient criminal behavior pointing to future criminal activity.


Headnotes

[1] The offense of loitering and prowling requires proof that the defendant loitered or prowled in a place, at a time, or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals, a…

[2] To establish the first element of loitering and prowling, the state must prove that the defendant engaged in incipient criminal behavior that law-abiding individuals do n…

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Key Quotes

“the defendant engaged in incipient criminal behavior which law-abiding people do not usually engage in due to the time, place, or manner of the conduct involved”

Establishes the legal standard for the first element of loitering and prowling—the state must prove incipient criminal behavior

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Facts & Procedural History

On June 29, 2001, at 4:23 a.m., Miami Beach police officers encountered A.D. walking on a sidewalk eight blocks from their destination. A.D. explained…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

A.D., a juvenile, appeals from a finding of guilt for the offense of loitering and prowling under section 856.021, Florida Statutes (2001). For the following reasons, we reverse.

On June 29, 2001, at 4:23 a.m., Miami Beach Police Officers Alberti and Aprelli noticed A.D. walking down the sidewalk, approximately eight blocks from the address they were headed to in response to a complaint. A.D. told the officers that he was coming from the home of his friend, Willy. A.D. was unable to give the officers Willy’s street address, but indicated where Willy lived by pointing. A.D. further explained that he lived in North Miami and planned to take a cab home. However, A.D. did not have any money. Officer Aprelli arrested A.D.

The State filed a delinquency petition charging A.D. with loitering and prowling. An adjudicatory hearing was held. At the hearing, evidence was introduced which showed that Officers Aprelli and Alberti were responding to a complaint concerning a “short black male with dark colored hair.” * Additionally, both officers testified that Miami Beach has a juvenile curfew which operated between midnight and 6:00 a.m. Officer Aprelli testified that although A.D. was not charged with a curfew violation, he considered the curfew significant in light of the hour. Defense counsel moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the evidence was insufficient. That motion was denied. The court found that A.D. had committed the offense of loitering and prowling. The court withheld adjudication and placed A.D. on community control. A.D. appeals. Because the evidence is insufficient to support the trial court’s finding that A.D. is guilty of loitering and prowling, we reverse.

Under section 856.021(1), Florida Statutes (2001), the offense of loitering and prowling has two distinct elements:

(1) the defendant loitered or prowled in a place, at a time, or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals; [and]

(2) such loitering and prowling were under circumstances that warranted a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.

State v. Ecker, 311 So. 2d 104, 106 (Fla.1975). Under the first element, the state must establish that “the defendant engaged in incipient criminal behavior which law-abiding people do not usually engage in due to the time, place, or manner of the conduct involved.” D.A. v. State, 471 So. 2d 147, 151 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985). The statute is forward-looking in nature and is aimed at punishing a “certain type of incipient criminal behavior before it ripens into the commission or attempted commission of a substantive criminal act.... The first element ... is not directed at suspicious after-the-fact criminal behavior which solely indicates involvement in a prior, already completed substantive criminal act.” Id.

In the instant case, there was absolutely no evidence that A.D.’s behavior pointed to the commission of future criminal activity. Officers Alberti and Aprelli saw nothing more than A.D. walking down the street at approximately 4:30 in the morning. Although this may be a violation of Miami Beach’s juvenile curfew, by itself it is legally insufficient evidence of loitering and prowling. K.R.R. v. State, 629 So. 2d 1068, 1070 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994).

Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the cause is remanded with directions to vacate the finding of guilt and discharge A.D.

*

A.D. argues that this evidence only came in through the improper admission oí hearsay.

We find it unnecessary to address this issue.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Artoine Jones v. State, 117 So. 3d 818 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)
    …e, 539 So. 2d 1170, 1171 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). “ ‘The first element ... is not directed at suspicious after-the-fact criminal behavior which solely indicates involve [*822] ment in a prior, already completed substantive criminal act.’ ” A.D. v. State, 817 So. 2d 1027, 1029 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002) (quoting D.A. v. State, 471 So. 2d 147, 151 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)). The second element requires “justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.” § 856.021(1), Fla.…
  • Madge v. State, 160 So. 3d 86 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015)
    …7 So. 3d 818, 822 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (stating that the court could not rely on observations of lay witnesses of events that occurred before law enforcement arrived to determine whether defendant was guilty of loitering and prowling); A.D. v. State, 817 So. 2d 1027, 1029 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002) (holding evidence insufficient to support finding that juvenile committed loitering and prowling); Freeman v. State, 617 So. 2d 432, 433 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (reversing probation violation based on loitering and prowling arre…
  • Alexei Gonzalez v. State, 828 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)
    …a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals; and 2) such loitering and prowling were under circumstances that warranted a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.” A.D. v. State, 817 So. 2d 1027, 1028 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)(quoting State v. Ecker, 311 So. 2d 104, 106 (Fla.1975)); § 856.021, Fla. Stat. (2002). Assuming that the state es [*498] tablished the first element, it failed to prove the second element. There is insufficient evidence sup…

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