STODDARD PICKRELL, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1974-09-27
No. 74-25
HOBSON, Acting C. J., concurs., GRIMES, J., dissents with opinion.
301 So. 2d 473 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1974) Positive Treatment
Cited by 34 cases

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Synopsis

Stoddard Pickrell appeals his conviction for LSD possession after a jury trial. The appellate court affirmed his conviction despite finding that computer printout evidence identifying the vehicle used in the drug transaction was inadmissible hearsay, concluding the error was harmless in light of direct identification testimony by the undercover agent.


Holding

The court held the computer printout testimony was inadmissible hearsay because no custodian or qualified witness testified regarding the manner of preparation, reliability, and trustworthiness of the computer records. However, the error was harmless because the undercover agent's direct identification of appellant was of sufficient quality to support the guilty verdict independent of the vehicle identification.


Headnotes

[1] Hearsay testimony regarding vehicle ownership, based on information obtained from a police teletype, is inadmissible without proper authentication or a sufficient predica…

[2] Computer printouts, similar to business records, require testimony from a custodian or qualified witness regarding their preparation, reliability, and trustworthiness to…

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Key Quotes

“Computer printouts, like business records, are admissible if the custodian or other qualified witness is available to testify as to manner of preparation, reliability and trustworthiness of the product.”

Establishes the legal standard for admitting computer printout evidence as business records.

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Facts & Procedural History

An undercover Sarasota Police Department agent testified he purchased LSD from appellant Pickrell during a five to ten minute meeting in a vehicle. Th…

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Opinion of the Court
BOARDMAN, Judge.

BOARDMAN, Judge.

The appellant, Stoddard Pickrell, was charged by information with possession of LSD. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict of guilty and the appellant was sentenced to three years imprisonment, with credit for time served. This timely appeal followed. On appeal, Pickrell assigns three errors, we have considered each of them but conclude that only one merits discussion.

An undercover agent of the Sarasota Police Department testified that he purchased the contraband in question from the appellant; that he was in an automobile with the appellant from five to ten minutes; that he had written the vehicle tag number of the car in which the purchase was made immediately after the buy, and that he had placed that information in a “baggie” with the LSD. He testified further that the “baggie” was given to Officer Cooley who testified as a witness for the state that he had telephoned the Sarasota Police Department to have them teletype Tallahassee for the name of the owner of the vehicle. Officer Cooley further testified that the tag was identified as belonging to appellant. Timely objection to this testimony was made on the ground that it was hearsay.

We agree with the appellant’s contention that this testimony was clearly inadmissible. Computer printouts, like business records, are admissible if the custodian or other qualified witness is available to testify as to manner of preparation, reliability and trustworthiness of the product. United States v. Russo, 6th Cir., 1973, 480 F. 2d 1228; Mastan Co. v. American Custom Homes, Inc., Fla.App.2nd, 1968, 214 So. 2d 103. The case sub judice reveals no such verification was attempted nor was a sufficient predicate adduced for the introduction of such testimony.

The direct identification of the appellant by the undercover agent, considered separate and apart from the vehicle identification, is of such quality that the jury could have found, as it did, that appellant was guilty as charged in the information. Accordingly, we conclude that in light of the record the complained-of error is considered to be harmless. See Section 924.-33, Florida Statutes; Butler v. State, 94 Fla. 163, 113 So. 699 (1927).

The judgment and sentence rendered by the trial judge are

Affirmed.

HOBSON, Acting C. J., concurs.

GRIMES, J., dissents with opinion.

Dissent
GRIMES, Judge

GRIMES, Judge

(dissenting) :

Appellant and five other persons testified that appellant was watching a football game on television in Plant City at the time the sale of LSD was alleged to have been made in Sarasota. Yet, the undercover policeman identified appellant as the person from whom he purchased the LSD. Therefore, there was competent substantial evidence upon which the jury could have found appellant guilty, and absent the hearsay testimony concerning the license tag identification, I would affirm the conviction.

The majority opinion holds that the admission of this evidence, even though error, was harmless. With this conclusion I cannot agree. The jury was faced with the problem of trying to resolve who was telling the truth. The inadmissible evidence concerning the license tag had the effect of corroborating the officer’s testimony. I cannot see how it can be said that the erroneous admission of this evidence was harmless. It may well have tipped the scale. I believe the standard for determining if improperly admitted evidence constitutes reversible error is whether such evidence might reasonably have affected the outcome of the case. See Perper v. Edell, Fla. 1949, 44 So. 2d 78. The standard is not whether there was other evidence in the record sufficient to support the verdict.

I respectfully dissent.


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Citator

Cited By (17 total)

  • Gray v. State, 910 So. 2d 867 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005)
    …f the custodian or other qualified witness is available to testify as to manner of preparation, reliability and trustworthiness of the product.” Cofield v. State, 474 So. 2d 849, 851 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) (adopting rule as stated in Pickrell v. State, 301 So. 2d 473, 474 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974)1); see DeSue v. State, 908 So. 2d 1116 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005). In appropriate circumstances, a printout may also be admissible as a properly certified copy of an official public record. See § 90.902(4), Fla. Stat. (2003); Charle…
  • Garrett v. Morris Kirschman & Co., Inc., 336 So. 2d 566 (Fla. 1976)
    …s was shown at trial, the forms are simply a writing in which Mr. Garrett’s employer, Mr. Huggins, recites what he paid Mr. Garrett. The unverified writing of a third person, like the ordinary speech of a third person, is hearsay. Pickrell v. State, 301 So. 2d 473 (Fla.App. 2nd, 1974); Bowen v. Seaward Dredging Corp., 242 So. 2d 151 (Fla.App. 3rd, 1970); Smith v. Frisch’s Big Boy, Inc., 208 So. 2d 310 (Fla. App. 2nd 1968). In order to be admissible,5 such a writing must be shown to fall under an exception to…
  • King v. State, 590 So. 2d 1032 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
    …of the printout nor otherwise qualified to testify as to its method of preparation and reliability. Therefore, the trial court should have sustained the hearsay objection. See Cofield v. State, 474 So. 2d 849 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Pickrell v. State, 301 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974), cert. denied, 314 So. 2d 585 (Fla.1975). Without the improperly admitted testimony, the evidence is legally insufficient to support the trial court’s finding that appellant is an habitual felony offender. Accordingly, we are comp…

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