DANNY ST. JAMES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2005-05-20
No. 2D04-1551
WALLACE and LaROSE, JJ., Concur.
903 So. 2d 1003 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2005) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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

Danny St. James was convicted of burglary of a structure and obstructing/resisting a police officer without violence. The Florida appellate court affirmed the burglary conviction because the issue was not preserved for appeal, but reversed the obstructing conviction due to insufficient evidence, finding St. James was not legally detained when he denied his identity to the officer.


Holding

The burglary conviction was affirmed because the insufficient evidence issue was not preserved for appeal, and ineffective assistance of counsel could not be determined on the face of the record. The obstructing conviction was reversed because the evidence was insufficient—St. James was not legally detained when he denied his identity, and he had no obligation to provide his correct identity absent legal detention.


Headnotes

[1] A conviction for burglary of a structure will be affirmed if the issue raised on appeal was not preserved in the trial court.

[2] A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel based on failure to preserve an issue requires further development of the record when the evidence does not conclusively demo…

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Key Quotes

“a suspect can commit the offense of obstructing a police officer without violence by providing false information to a police officer during a valid arrest or Terry stop, but the court noted that '[t]his rule ... does not obligate a person to give his or her correct identity to an officer unless that person is legally detained.'”

Establishes the legal standard that a person need not identify themselves unless legally detained, the basis for reversing the obstructing conviction.

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Facts & Procedural History

St. James was observed leaving a Work Force building with a bicycle belonging to another laborer. The building contained an office, waiting room, and …

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Opinion of the Court
FULMER, Judge.

FULMER, Judge.

Danny St. James challenges his convictions for burglary of a structure and obstructing or resisting without violence. We affirm the burglary conviction because the issue raised on appeal was not preserved. We reverse and remand with directions to discharge St. James on the obstructing without violence conviction be cause we agree that the evidence was insufficient to support the charge.

The information alleged that St. James committed burglary by entering “a storage facility ... [which was] the property of that certain business entity known as Work Force ... the said structure at the time not open to the public .... ” The trial testimony showed that the Work Force building contained an office, a waiting room and a separate room where laborers could park their bicycles. St. James was seen leaving the Work Force building with a bicycle belonging to another laborer. Later when a uniformed patrolman was investigating the bicycle theft, he approached a group of ten or fifteen people and asked if anyone had seen Danny St. James. The officer did not say why he was looking for St. James and did not state that he was conducting an investigation. A man, later identified as St. James, told the officer: “I don’t know no St. James.” This remark became the basis for the charge of resisting or obstructing an officer without violence.

St. James argues that there was insufficient evidence presented for the burglary charge because the structure was open to the public at the time of the alleged burglary. Although this point was not specifically argued to the trial court in his motion for judgment of acquittal, he asserts that this court should reverse because his counsel’s failure to preserve the issue was ineffective assistance of counsel on the face of the record. We reject this argument because we are unable to say that the defense attorney was ineffective on the face of the record. The evidence does not conclusively demonstrate whether the structure was open to the public at the time of the burglary; therefore, whether counsel was constitutionally deficient in failing to argue such in the motion for judgment of acquittal requires further development of the record. Accordingly, we affirm on this issue without prejudice to any right St. James may have to raise his ineffective assistance claim in a postconviction motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.

St. James also argues that the State failed to show that he knew an investigation was underway and that he intended to obstruct the officer when he told the officer, “I don’t know no St. James.” The State asserts that the evidence was sufficient to show that the officer was engaged in the lawful execution of a legal duty in that he was investigating the bike theft and St. James obstructed the lawful duty because his response delayed the officer’s investigation.

We agree that the evidence was insufficient to support the charge of obstructing an officer without violence. In D.G. v. State, 661 So. 2d 75, 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), this court stated that a suspect can commit the offense of obstructing a police officer without violence by providing false information to a police officer during a valid arrest or Terry stop, but the court noted that “[t]his rule ... does not obligate a person to give his or her correct identity to an officer unless that person is legally detained.” Here, St. James was not legally detained when he denied his identity. Although the officer had probable cause to arrest St. James at the time, the officer did not convey that fact to the group, and there was no showing that St. James knew that the officer intended to detain him. Therefore, we reverse the conviction for obstructing without violence based on insufficient evidence. See D.M. v. State, 681 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); D.G., 661 So. 2d 75; S.G.K. v. State, 657 So. 2d 1246, 1248 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Harris v. State, 647 So. 2d 206, 208-09 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

WALLACE and LaROSE, JJ., Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Sauz v. State, 27 So. 3d 226 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010)
    …v. State, 731 So. 2d 75, 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). “[A] suspect can commit the offense of obstructing a police officer without violence by providing false information to a police officer during a valid arrest or Terry[ ] stop....” St. James v. State, 903 So. 2d 1003, 1004 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (citing D.G. v. State, 661 So. 2d 75, 76 (Fla. 2d [*228] DCA 1995)); see also Fournier, 731 So. 2d at 76. However, “ ‘[t]his rule ... does not obligate a person to give his or her correct identity to an officer unless that p…
  • Polite v. State, 933 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006)
    …police officer, one would be subject to prosecution for entirely innocent behavior — such as, for example, simply walking away from an unidentified someone who ordered him to remain still. See Giorgetti, 868 So. 2d at 515; e.g., St. James v. State, 903 So. 2d 1003 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)(gave false information); D.T.B., 892 So. 2d at 524 (flight); E.W. v. State, 873 So. 2d 485 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004)(resisted being handcuffed); H.A.P. v. State, 834 So. 2d 237 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)(refused to leave area), review denied, 8…

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