GUY MARTIN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Martin was acquitted of robbery after the jury found insufficient evidence of his identity, then charged with conspiracy to commit the same robbery. The court reversed, holding that collateral estoppel, as applied in Ashe v. Swenson, prevents the state from prosecuting Martin for conspiracy after he was acquitted of the substantive robbery charge.
The court held that under collateral estoppel principles established in Ashe v. Swenson and Benton v. Maryland, the state is barred from prosecuting Martin for conspiracy after he was acquitted of the robbery charge. The jury must have found insufficient evidence of Martin's identity at the first trial, and this factual determination cannot be relitigated.
[1] Collateral estoppel, an aspect of federal double jeopardy, bars a subsequent prosecution for conspiracy to commit robbery after a defendant was acquitted of robbery based…
[2] A jury's acquittal on a substantive offense, where the evidence of identity was insufficient, necessarily determined the question of the defendant's identity in the defen…
Previewing 2 of 4 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“It is clear that the jury could not have determined that the robbery didn't happen, and a fair reading of the record of both trials shows that the jury must have found the evidence of Martin's identity insufficient at the first, thus determining this question in Martin's favor.”
Establishes that the jury's acquittal at the first trial necessarily determined Martin's identity was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, creating a factual finding binding in the second trial.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMartin and Gordy were tried together for robbery. Gordy was convicted; Martin was acquitted. The jury was instructed that if they found Martin conspir…
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Ashe v. Swenson1 governs this case. Martin and Gordy were tried for robbery. Gordy was convicted. Martin was acquitted. The jury was charged that if they found that Martin conspired with another to commit the robbery he should be found guilty as a principal.
Subsequently he was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. The evidence at the second trial was identical to that at the first except that, as in Ashe, the evidence of defendant’s identity was stronger at the second trial. It is clear that the jury could not have determined that the robbery didn’t happen, and a fair reading of the record of both trials shows that the jury must have found the evidence of Martin’s identity insufficient at the first, thus determining this question in Martin’s favor.
Benton v. Maryland2 applied federal double jeopardy standards to the states. *897Ashe v. Swenson applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel, formerly an aspect of the federal concept of double jeopardy.3
The State’s contention that conspiracy is not a lesser included offense is true,4 hut beside the point.5
Reversed and remanded with directions to dismiss the charge.
McNULTY, J., concurs.
LILES, A. C. J., concurs specially.
(concurring specially).
Appellant, Guy Martin, was charged along with one John V. Gordy, Jr., of the crime of robbery. They were tried for the crime and the jury found the appellant, Guy Martin, innocent. Subsequently, Martin was tried for conspiracy and was found guilty. He brings this appeal and urges that the trial and conviction of conspiracy constituted double jeopardy. In the trial of the charge of robbery, the trial judge charged the jury on the crime of conspiracy also and the evidence adduced at the trial for robbery is virtually the same evidence used to convict the appellant of conspiracy.
I reluctantly admit that Ashe v. Swenson, 1969, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469, is governing in this situation. I simply wish to express my utter and unequivocal disagreement with both the logic and the conclusion reached in that decision.
The court in Ashe came up with a rather novel application of “collateral estop-pel” and applies it in criminal cases and then attempts to define it as “when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.” They then go on, as was pointed out in Chief Justice Burger’s dissenting opinion, to change double jeopardy to mean the “same evidence” rather than the “same offense.” I share with Justice Burger in his fear that our next step will be that when one defendant murders two people at the same time it will be double jeopardy to try him for the murder of both victims at different trials.
I am forced to concur in the conclusion reached by Judges MANN and McNULTY hut I am likewise forced to point out some of the pitfalls contained in the logic of Ashe v. Swenson, supra.
(concurring specially).
Appellant, Guy Martin, was charged along with one John V. Gordy, Jr., of the crime of robbery. They were tried for the crime and the jury found the appellant, Guy Martin, innocent. Subsequently, Martin was tried for conspiracy and was found guilty. He brings this appeal and urges that the trial and conviction of conspiracy constituted double jeopardy. In the trial of the charge of robbery, the trial judge charged the jury on the crime of conspiracy also and the evidence adduced at the trial for robbery is virtually the same evidence used to convict the appellant of conspiracy.
I reluctantly admit that Ashe v. Swenson, 1969, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469, is governing in this situation. I simply wish to express my utter and unequivocal disagreement with both the logic and the conclusion reached in that decision.
The court in Ashe came up with a rather novel application of “collateral estoppel” and applies it in criminal cases and then attempts to define it as “when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.” They then go on, as was pointed out in Chief Justice Burger’s dissenting opinion, to change double jeopardy to mean the “same evidence” rather than the “same offense.” I share with Justice Burger in his fear that our next step will be that when one defendant murders two people at the same time it will be double jeopardy to try him for the murder of both victims at different trials.
I am forced to concur in the conclusion reached by Judges MANN and McNULTY hut I am likewise forced to point out some of the pitfalls contained in the logic of Ashe v. Swenson, supra.
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Citator
Cited By
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State v. Desmond, 39 Fla. Supp. 95 (Dade Cty. Cir. Ct. 1973)…3 U.S. 374 (1969). The state is barred by the principle of collateral estoppel from relitigating the issue of the identity of the defendant as the robber of the state’s witness, Joseph Heilman. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 (1970); Martin v. State, 260 So. 2d 896 (Fla. App. 2d 1972). For the above and foregoing reasons, it is ordered and adjudged that the defendant’s motion to dismiss and discharge be and the same is granted; the information in the instant case is dismissed and the defendant forever dischar…
Authorities Cited
- Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 (U.S. 1970)
- Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784 (U.S. 1969)
- Sealfon v. United States, 332 U.S. 575 (U.S. 1948)
- Dudley George Hanemann v. State, 228 So. 2d 382 (Fla. 1969)
- United States v. De Angelo, 138 F.2d 466 (3d Cir. 1943)
- Swindle v. State, 254 So. 2d 811 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)
- Dudley George Hanemann v. State, 221 So. 2d 228 (Fla. 1st DCA 1969)
- Hanemann v. Florida, 400 U.S. 2 (U.S. 1970)
- Hall v. United States, 400 U.S. 2 (U.S. 1970)