DARRYLE RIGGINS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2006-11-15
No. 3D05-694
Before GREEN and SHEPHERD, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.
942 So. 2d 938 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2006)

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

Darryle Riggins appealed his convictions for drug possession with intent to sell, resisting arrest, battery on a law enforcement officer, escape, and petit theft, raising only jury selection challenges. The appellate court affirmed the convictions, finding no error in the trial court's acceptance of peremptory strikes and for-cause excusals.


Holding

The court affirmed the convictions, holding that: (1) because defense counsel failed to challenge the accuracy of the prosecutor's statements regarding the jurors' hand-raising during jury selection, the issue was not preserved for appeal; and (2) the two jurors excused for cause were properly removed because one had express doubts about his impartiality due to past police mistreatment and the other had personal familiarity with the defendant.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant may not challenge the factual basis of a prosecutor's race-neutral reason for a peremptory strike if the defense did not object to the accuracy of the prosecu…

[2] A juror may be excused for cause when they express doubt about their ability to be fair due to past negative experiences with law enforcement.

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Key Quotes

“As a matter of right, defendant was entitled to no particular jury or jurors to try his case. He was entitled to a fair and impartial jury, and it is not claimed or intimated that the jury finally selected and sworn and by whom defendant was tried was not all that the law required.”

Establishes the legal standard that a defendant has the right to a fair jury but not to any particular jurors, and the jury as selected met constitutional requirements.

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Facts & Procedural History

Riggins was convicted of possession with intent to sell cocaine, resisting an officer with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer, escape, and…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

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Opinion of the Court
SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

On this appeal from convictions for possession with intent to sell cocaine, resisting an officer with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer, escape and petit theft, the only points raised concern jury selection. We affirm.

The defendant’s first contention concerns two jurors as to whom state peremptory challenges were upheld by the trial court after a Batson-Neil objection. The state’s proffered race-neutral reason was that the jurors had raised their hands when the panel was asked whether anyone was in favor of legalizing marijuana. The defendant does not challenge the validity or the race-neutrality of this ground but claims that the hand-raising does not appear on the record. See Dorsey v. State, 868 So. 2d 1192 (Fla.2003). Because, however, his counsel did not challenge the accuracy of the prosecutor’s statements below, which were accepted without comment by the trial judge — who had obviously seen the incident in question — Riggins may not now claim that the basis of the reason is unsupported by the record. See Mendoza v. State, 807 So. 2d 734, 735 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002) (holding that argument as to peremptory strike not preserved “where the defense did not object to the existence of the facts proffered by the state in support of the strike”); Soto v. State, 786 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001), case dismissed, 799 So. 2d 219 (Fla.2001); Carter v. State, 762 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), review denied, 786 So. 2d 1183 (Fla.2001); see also Dorsey, 868 So. 2d at 1196 n. 3; cf. Suri v. State, 937 So. 2d 216, 219 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006) (deferring to trial court’s conclusion that prospective juror, who was challenged for cause, “did not hesitate in her nonverbal communication”).

The other point concerns two other jurors who were excused by the court for cause on the state’s motion. Even assuming that the defendant can be heard to raise the issue, Dunaway v. State, 90 Fla. 142, 143, 105 So. 816, 816 (1925) (“As a matter of right, defendant was entitled to no particular jury or jurors to try his case. He was entitled to a fair and impartial jury, and it is not claimed or intimated that the jury finally selected and sworn and by whom defendant was tried was not all that the law required.”); Chavers v. State, 827 So. 2d 279 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), review denied, 842 So. 2d 843 (Fla.2003); O’Quendo v. State, 823 So. 2d 834 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (citing Piccott v. State, 116 So. 2d 626, 627 (Fla.1959), appeal dismissed and cert. denied, 364 U.S. 293, 81 S.Ct. 106, 5 L.Ed.2d 83 (1960)), the record shows that each was justifiably excused for cause: one of the jurors because he doubted his ability to be fair as a result of his having been unjustifiably accused by the police in the past, see Lebron v. State, 799 So. 2d 997, 1014-15 (Fla.2001) (“The State, as well as the defendant, is entitled to an impartial jury.”) (citing Peteet v. State, 631 S.W. 2d 816, 817 (Tex.App.1982)), cert. denied, 535 U.S. 1036, 122 S.Ct. 1794, 152 L.Ed.2d 652 (2002); Still v. State, 917 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005); Ruland v. State, 614 So. 2d 537, 538 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993), review denied, 626 So. 2d 207 (Fla.1993), and the other because she was familiar with the defendant himself. See Busby v. State, 894 So. 2d 88 (Fla.2004), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 125 S.Ct. 2976, 162 L.Ed.2d 906 (2005); Moore v. State, 939 So. 2d 1116 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006); Henry v. State, 586 So. 2d 1335 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991).

Affirmed.


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