DAVID MERCER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2003-02-05
No. 4D02-106
STEVENSON, J., and BAILEY, JENNIFER D., Associate Judge, concur.
835 So. 2d 1273 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2003) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Mercer was convicted of armed robbery of a barbershop, but the appellate court reversed for a new trial because the trial court improperly restricted cross-examination of the state's key witness about the extent of information police provided her before she implicated Mercer, which was crucial to his credibility defense.


Holding

Yes. The trial court erred by preventing cross-examination about what police told the witness. This evidence was relevant to her credibility and not inadmissible hearsay because it was offered to show what she knew and when she knew it, not to prove the truth of the police statements. The error was not harmless because the state's entire case depended on this witness's credibility.


Headnotes

[1] A criminal defendant's right to cross-examine a key prosecution witness regarding matters germane to direct examination and relevant to the defense is a fundamental right…

[2] Cross-examination may extend to any phase of a subject matter opened by direct examination, including details that may modify, supplement, contradict, rebut, or make clea…

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Key Quotes

“[C]ross-examination is not limited to the exact details testified to on direct examination but extends to the whole subject and all matters that modify, supplement, contradict, rebut or make clearer the direct testimony.”

Establishes the broad scope of permissible cross-examination under Florida law, supporting the reversal of the trial court's restrictions.

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Facts & Procedural History

Two masked men carrying guns robbed a barbershop; neither victim could identify the robbers. The state's primary evidence came from a woman who was fr…

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Opinion of the Court
KLEIN, J.

KLEIN, J.

Appellant was convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon while wearing a mask. We reverse for a new trial because the court erred in limiting appellant’s cross-examination of the state’s key witness.

The robbery occurred in a barbershop and was carried out by two men with shirts pulled over their heads, both of whom had guns. Neither of the victims could identify the robbers, whom they both described as non-white but light skinned. One of the victims testified at trial that appellant had darker skin than the other robber. The primary testimony implicating appellant was from a woman who was friend ly with the other defendant but knew appellant only from seeing him around. She testified that she was with appellant, the eo-defendant, and two other young men later on the day of the robbery and there was joking to the effect that there had been an incident in which appellant had trouble in getting his gun out of his pocket.

This same witness had previously testified that she knew nothing about the robbery until she had been questioned and given details of the robbery by the police. The court, however, would not allow her to be cross-examined as to how much information the police had provided her. In appellant’s proffer, the witness testified that the police had told her that one of the men had confessed, that the robbers had shirts over their heads rather than masks, that there were guns involved, and who had the guns. Her testimony on the proffer about what she knew and when she knew it was full of inconsistencies.

This witness was the only witness linking appellant to the robbery and his primary theory of defense was to attack her credibility. The court would not allow her to testify as to the details of what the police had told her on the ground that it was irrelevant and hearsay.

The information the police gave this witness was clearly relevant. Where evidence tends in any way to establish a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt, it should be admitted. Rivera v. State, 561 So. 2d 536 (Fla.1990). And, as our supreme court recently explained in Butler v. State, 27 Fla. L. Weekly S461 (Fla. May 9, 2002):

[C]ross-examination is not limited to the exact details testified to on direct examination but extends to the whole subject and all matters that modify, supplement, contradict, rebut or make clearer the direct testimony.

Nor was the testimony as to what the police had told this witness inadmissible as hearsay, because it was not offered to prove the truth of the statements by the police. § 90.801(l)(c), Fla. Stat. (2000).

Because the state’s case hinged entirely on the credibility of this witness, we cannot agree with the state that this error was harmless. We therefore reverse for a new trial.

STEVENSON, J., and BAILEY, JENNIFER D., Associate Judge, concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Rios v. State, 193 So. 3d 111 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)
    …e evidence of the victim’s “statement” to her sister in order to prove the statement’s truth, but rather to show-that a statement was made and that the .victim reported the incident to someone just a few days after it happened. .See Mercer v. State, 835 So. 2d 1273, 1274 .(Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (holding that testimony as to what the police told the witness about the crime was not inadmissible hearsay, because it was not offered to prove the truth of the statements by the police). The sister’s testimony that she u…

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