DANNY BENITEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE; HERBERT LANIS PIPPIN, SR., APPELLANT, V. STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Danny Benitez and Herbert Lanis Pippin, Sr. were convicted of breaking and entering with intent to commit grand larceny and grand larceny. They appealed thirteen assignments of error, but the appellate court found no reversible error and affirmed their convictions and ten-year sentences.
The appellate court found no reversible error. The court affirmed the convictions and sentences, holding that neither the individual assignments of error nor their composite effect resulted in a miscarriage of justice. The flight instruction and argument were appropriate given the evidence that appellants fled the scene and the jurisdiction.
“the offense was committed in Hillsborough County in the early morning of August 28, 1957; that the appellants fled the scene of the crime, and that the appellant Pippin by his own testimony left the county and was in Waldo, Florida, around 4:30 or 5:00 A.M. on that date.”
Establishes the factual predicate for the trial court's flight instruction and argument, which appellants challenged as error.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBenitez and Pippin, along with two co-defendants who entered guilty pleas, were charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit grand larceny…
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Appellants, along with Percy Lamb and Harry Courtemanche, were charged in the Criminal Court of Record of Hillsborough County with the offense of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, namely, grand larceny, and also with grand larceny.
Percy Lamb and Harry Courtemanche entered guilty pleas and testified for the State. Appellants, Danny Benitez and Herbert Lanis Pippin, Sr., were convicted as charged and after adjudication of guilt were sentenced to serve ten (10) years under the first count of the information.
Appellant Benitez filed his notice of appeal on May 7, 1958, and appellant Pippin filed his notice of appeal on May 14, 1958. These appeals were consolidated by Order of this Court for the purposes of the record on appeal, briefs and oral arguments.
Appellants have filed thirteen (13) assignments of error and in their arguments they urge that if the Court should determine that none of said assignments standing alone is sufficient predicate for prejudicial error, that the composite effect of the errors complained of in said assignments would entitle the defendants to a new trial.
It is contended that the Court erred in permitting the State to argue to the jury on flight, and further, that the Court erred in giving the instruction on flight. Although the record does not reflect when and where the appellants were arrested, it does show that the offense was committed in Hills-borough County in the early morning of August 28, 1957; that the appellants fled the scene of the crime, and that the appellant Pippin by his own testimony left the county and was in Waldo, Florida, around 4:30 or 5:00 A.M. on that date.
Further, the appellants allege that the Court erred in allowing the State to put the character of defendants in issue. The record does not substantiate this assignment.
The appellant Pippin endeavors to establish an alibi and produces one Henry Croft, the Town Marshal of Waldo, Florida, who testified that he saw the appellant Pippin in Waldo between 4:30 and 5:00 A.M. on August 28, 1957, and that Pippin was with a friend of Croft, whose name was Noonan Bradley. The jury was not convinced by the alibi witness.
A careful review of the record in this case reflects that the patience of the Trial Judge was tested on several occasions; however, we fail to find where reversible error has been committed, and after an examination of the entire case, it does not *412appear to us that the errors complained of have resulted in miscarriage of justice.
The judgments and convictions are hereby affirmed.
KANNER, C. J., and ALLEN, J., concur.
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Williams v. State, 378 So. 2d 902 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)…a.1975), Martinez v. State, 346 So. 2d 1209 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1977), Williams v. State, 268 So. 2d 566 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1972), Hargrett v. State, 255 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1971), Betancourt v. State, 228 So. 2d 124 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1969), Benitez v. State, 113 So. 2d 410 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959). Appellant cites as error also the trial judge’s refusal to give an instruction to the jury in regard to the penalty the accused could receive upon conviction. In Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, 3.390(a) it is provided: Th…
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Benitez v. Cochran, 120 So. 2d 787 (Fla. 1960)…and the exhibits that the petition is totally devoid of merit. We deem our conclusion to be supported by the decision of the Court of Appeal which affirmed the conviction which the petitioner now asks us to set aside. See Benitez v. State, Fla.App., 113 So. 2d 410. The writ is discharged and the petitioner is remanded to the custody of the respondent. It is so ordered. THOMAS, C. J., and TERRELL, HOB-SON, THORNAL and O’CONNELL, JJ., concur.…
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Sherwood v. State, 221 So. 2d 154 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969)…aised by the defendant for reversal and find them to be without merit. See Williams v. State, Fla.1959, 110 So. 2d 654; Cornelius v. State, Fla.1950, 49 So. 2d 332; Bryant v. State, 89 Fla. 26, 103 So. 170 (1925); and Benitez v. State, Fla.App.1959, 113 So. 2d 410. For these reasons the judgment herein appealed be and the same is hereby Affirmed.…