RONALD GOODMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2003-03-13
No. 1D02-339
BOOTH, WEBSTER and LEWIS, JJ., concur.
839 So. 2d 902 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2003) Negative Treatment
Cited by 10 cases


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant seeks review of a conviction, following a jury trial, for possession of more than 20 grams of cannabis. The state’s case was based on constructive possession. Appellant denied knowledge that the cannabis was present. This placed in dispute the essential element of knowledge of the illicit nature of the substance, as well as that of knowledge of the presence of the substance. Scott v. State, 808 So. 2d 166 (Fla.2002); Blunt v. State, 831 So. 2d 770 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). Accordingly, failure to instruct the jury on the element of knowledge of the illicit nature of the substance constituted fundamental error, entitling appellant to a new trial. Reed v. State, 837 So. 2d 366 (Fla.2002); Blunt, 831 So. 2d at 771-72. Section 893.101, Florida Statutes (2002), may not be applied retroactively to this case because the offense was alleged to have occurred before that statute was enacted. Norman v. State, 826 So. 2d 440 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002).

REVERSED and REMANDED, with directions.

BOOTH, WEBSTER and LEWIS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Garcia v. State, 901 So. 2d 788 (Fla. 2005)
    …QUINCE, J. We have for review the decision in Garcia v. State, 854 So. 2d 758 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), which certified conflict with the decision in Goodman v. State, 839 So. 2d 902 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003). We have jurisdiction. See art. Y, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. For the reasons more fully expressed below, we quash the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal, and approve Goodman. FACTS The facts of this case are thoroughl…
    1 / 2
  • Garcia v. State, 854 So. 2d 758 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
    …nstruction was fundamental error where defendant “denied knowledge of [the existence of a] pill bottle and the crack cocaine” it contained and prosecutor argued that defendant “knew what the substance was”). The recent decision in Goodman v. State, 839 So. 2d 902 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003), adopts a different view of Scott than the one we have adopted. Goodman cites Scott in support of its holding that failure to give a guilty knowledge instruction was fundamental error in a case where the defendant “denied knowled…
  • Byrd v. State, 893 So. 2d 620 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Garcia v. State, 854 So. 2d 758 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), review granted, 870 So. 2d 821 (Fla.2004); Starling v. State, 842 So. 2d 992 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003). As in Garcia, we certify direct conflict with Goodman v. State, 839 So. 2d 902 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003). CASANUEVA and KELLY, JJ., and DANAHY, PAUL W., Senior Judge, Concur.…

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