RAYMOND ANTHONY LEE
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Officers had legal authority to detain and handcuff the defendant based on information from a store employee about suspected shoplifting under section 812.015(4), Florida Statutes, and the State's presentation of two possible acts of resistance did not constitute fundamental error absent jury instruction allowing conviction on multiple acts.
[1] Under section 812.015(4), Florida Statutes, officers have authority to arrest and handcuff a suspect based upon information supplied by a store employee regarding suspect…
[2] No fundamental error occurs when the State presents multiple distinct acts that could satisfy an essential element of a crime if the prosecutor does not affirmatively adv…
Previewing 2 of 2 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Where the State does not affirmatively advise the jury that it can convict using any number of acts as the essential element of the crime, the possibility of a non-unanimous verdict does not constitute fundamental error.”
Court's analysis of whether the prosecution's presentation of two alternative acts of resistance constituted fundamental error.
Raymond Anthony Lee was convicted of resisting an officer without violence after being arrested at a convenience store. Officers attempted to handcuff…
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Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Jeffrey Dana Gillen, Judge; L.T. Case No. 502022CF004641AMB.
Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Timothy Wang, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Richard Valuntas, Senior Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee. PER CURIAM. Appellant appeals his conviction and resulting sentence for resisting an officer without violence. He claims that the trial court erred in denying his judgment of acquittal because the State failed to show that the officers were in the performance of a legal duty when they attempted to detain and handcuff appellant for suspected shoplifting at a convenience store. We affirm, concluding that section 812.015(4), Florida Statutes (2022), gave the officers the authority to arrest and handcuff appellant based upon information supplied by the convenience store’s employee. See Bent v. State, 257 So. 3d 501 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018). In a second issue, appellant argues that the State presented two distinct acts which could constitute resisting—appellant’s refusal to back up when he was recording the arrest of his friend, and his later resisting being handcuffed when he was being detained. Although appellant did not object at trial, he claims this was fundamental error because it could have led to a non-unanimous verdict. We disagree.
2
Appellant was charged with resisting with violence, and the only alleged violent act occurred when appellant resisted being handcuffed. The prosecutor did not ask the jury to find resisting arrest with violence based upon the refusal to back up. “Where the State does not affirmatively advise the jury that it can convict using any number of acts as the essential element of the crime, the possibility of a non-unanimous verdict does not constitute fundamental error.” Johnston v. State, 357 So. 3d 156, 162 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023).
We affirm as to all other issues raised. Affirmed. WARNER, DAMOORGIAN and FORST, JJ., concur.
* * * Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Johnston v. State, 357 So. 3d 156 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023)
- Symone Justine Bent v. State, 257 So. 3d 501 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018)