SILBERT
v.
STATE

Fla. | 1954-03-02
ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL and DREW, JJ., concur.
72 So. 2d 901 Florida Supreme Court (1954) Positive Treatment
Cited by 9 cases

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Synopsis

Silbert was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct against a minor in a bench trial. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, finding no error in the trial court's exclusion of character evidence letters and no basis to overturn the factual findings.


Holding

The trial court did not err in excluding the character evidence letters. The conviction is affirmed as the record does not justify reversal based on the court's credibility findings and witness observations.


Key Quotes

“A minor was molested while attending a picture show in the city of West Palm Beach. A prompt report of the incident was made by the prosecuting witness and the appellant was identified to the satisfaction of the lower-Court as the offender.”

Establishes the facts of the crime and the basis for identification

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Facts & Procedural History

A minor was molested while attending a movie in West Palm Beach. The victim made a prompt report of the incident, and the trial court found the eviden…

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Opinion of the Court
PATTEN, Associate Justice.

PATTEN, Associate Justice.

Appellant was informed against in the Criminal Court of Record, Palm Beach County, charged with lewd and lascivious conduct. Trial was had before the Court without a jury. Appellant was found guilty and sentenced' to three years in the State Penitentiary. A minor was molested while attending a picture show in the city of West Palm Beach. A prompt report of the incident was made by the prosecuting witness and the appellant was identified to the satisfaction of the lower-Court as the offender. Appellant proffered exhibits consisting of letters from prominent citizens of his former home state of Massachusetts in support of his good character. Timely objection was made and sustained to the introduction of these exhibits in evidence. We find no error in this ruling.

We have carefully examined the transcript of the proceedings in this cause and the briefs filed by appellant and’ appel-lee. The Court below, having heard the testimony and observed the witnesses, found appellant guilty, and we do not feel that the record justifies a reversal of that judgment. The judgment appealed from is therefore affirmed.

ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL and DREW, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Maltempo v. Cuthbert, 288 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974)
    …tled legal tenet that a statute will not be construed as retroactive unless its terms clearly show that such a result was intended. See In re Seven Barrels of Wine, 1920, 79 Fla. 1, 83 So. 627; City of Miami v. Board of Public Instruction, Fla.1954, 72 So. 2d 901. Instead, the presumption is that a legislative act operates prospectively only, unless there is a clear showing of retroactive intent. State v. Green, Fla.1958, 101 So. 2d 805.” . The weight of authority from other jurisdictions appears to tip sli…
  • …tled legal tenet that a statute will not be construed as retroactive unless its terms clearly show that such a result was intended. See In re Seven Barrels of Wine, 1920, 79 Fla. 1, 83 So. 627; City of Miami v. Board of Public Instruction, Fla.1954, 72 So. 2d 901. Instead, the presumption is that a legislative act operates prospectively only, unless there is a clear showing of retroactive intent. State v. Green, Fla.1958, 101 So. 2d 805. Rules of statutory construction support the position that the one year…
  • …sments for improvements to such school property, when and only when the legislature so authorizes by a specific enactment. See, also, Southern Drainage Dist. v. State, 93 Fla. 599, 113 So. 561; City of Miami v. Board of Public Instruction, Fla.1954, 72 So. 2d 901; Board of Public Instruction v. City of Jacksonville, Fla.1956, 86 So. 2d 887. A statute passed in 1953,1 after the period involved here, authorized the Board [*326] to pay assessments for improvements consisting of “street improvements, sidewalk i…
    1 / 2

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