JESSIE LEE GREENE, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1977-05-05
No. 50451
ADKINS, BOYD and HATCHETT, JJ., concur., OVERTON, C. J., dissents.
351 So. 2d 941 Florida Supreme Court (1977) Negative Treatment
Cited by 22 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court held that when a trial court denies a motion to suppress a confession without making an explicit finding of voluntariness, a new trial is required rather than a remand for post-conviction findings. The Court emphasized that due process requires an independent determination of confession admissibility before trial, not after a jury verdict.


Holding

A new trial is required. The trial court must make an explicit, unequivocal finding regarding the voluntariness of a confession before the confession is admitted and the jury deliberates, not after conviction. Post-trial determinations are insufficient because a judge cannot objectively determine admissibility after a jury verdict of guilt without being influenced by that verdict.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must make an explicit and unequivocal finding on the record regarding the voluntariness of a confession before admitting it into evidence.

[2] A trial judge's determination of a confession's voluntariness must be made independently and prior to its admission and jury deliberation.

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

Key Quotes

“Otherwise, the result is 'piecemeal' prosecution. Where the hearings come after the trial, the likely result is that judges, who are concerned with, as was the majority below, 'court dockets [that] are entirely too congested' become somewhat less sensitive to due process considerations, and see retrials as 'useless and expensive trials which will serve no real purpose.'”

Establishes the Court's rationale for rejecting post-trial remands and requiring new trials when confession voluntariness is not explicitly determined before trial.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Jessie Lee Greene was charged with and convicted of robbery in a jury trial. Before trial, Greene moved to suppress a confession, alleging it was coer…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SUNDBERG, Justice.

SUNDBERG, Justice.

By petition for certiorari, we review a decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 1031 (filed August 20, 1976), which allegedly conflicts on the same point of law with a decision of this Court (Land v. State, 293 So. 2d 704 (Fla.1974)), a prior decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (Danahey v. State, 298 So. 2d 444 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974)), and a recent opinion from the District Court of Appeal, First District (Pitts v. State, 335 So. 2d 367 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). As the forthcoming reasoning will more fully expound, we have jurisdiction.1

Petitioner was charged and convicted of robbery in a jury trial. Prior to the trial, petitioner made a motion to suppress a confession allegedly coerced from him by the police. The trial court denied this motion to suppress with the simple statement, “I am going to deny your motion to suppress. I think you can argue all that to the jury.” No determination was made by the judge as to whether the confession was voluntary. On appeal, the sole question involved was whether the trial court erred in denying petitioner’s motion to suppress without an unequivocal and explicit finding that appellant’s confession was freely and voluntarily given. The District Court' of Appeal, Fourth District, stated that McDole v. State, 283 So. 2d 553 (Fla.1973) was disposi-tive. That case requires a trial judge to make his conclusion as to the voluntariness of a confession appear clearly in the record. Finding that the mandate of McDole had not been observed, the District Court of Appeal temporarily relinquished its jurisdiction and remanded the case to the trial judge to consider and made an explicit ruling on the issue of voluntariness. Petitioner might then file that order in the appellate court for further appropriate proceedings if he desired. Petitioner suggests the remedy afforded by the District Court of Appeal in the instant case was inadequate. Under circumstances essentially the same as in the case at bar, this Court in Land v. State, supra, ruled that a new trial is mandated. As this Court stated in Land when enunciating the rationale for requiring a new trial:

“. . . Otherwise, the result is ‘piecemeal’ prosecution. Where the hearings come after the trial, the likely result is that judges, who are concerned with, as was the majority below, ‘court dockets [that] are entirely too congested’ become somewhat less sensitive to due process considerations, and see retrials as ‘useless and expensive trials which will serve no real purpose.’ We, however, are convinced that, when a man’s liberty is at stake, considerations of due process outweigh those of economics. In the words of dissenting Judge Johnson:
‘. . . I have serious doubts that a trial judge, after a conviction by a jury composed of fellow community members and probable friends of whose opinion he may view with high regard, can anymore be uninfluenced by such jury conviction than the jury can be uninfluenced by the fact of a confession.’ [Land v. State, 280 So. 2d 711 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973) (Johnson, J., dissenting)].” Land v. State, 293 So. 2d 704, 708 (Fla.1974). (Footnotes omitted.)

A judge is not a computer which can consistently make an objective determination as to the admissibility of a confession without the possibility that a prior jury verdict of guilt may influence that ruling. Due process consequently entitles the petitioner to an independent determination of admissibility, held before admission of a confession and jury deliberation thereon. Accordingly, the petition for writ of certiorari is granted, that portion of the decision of the District Court of Appeal relinquishing jurisdiction to the trial court is quashed, and this cause is remanded to the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, with instructions to remand to the trial court for a new trial.

It is so ordered.

ADKINS, BOYD and HATCHETT, JJ., concur. OVERTON, C. J., dissents.

. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla.Const.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Antone v. State, 382 So. 2d 1205 (Fla. 1980)
    …33 So. 2d 396 (Fla. 1970); St. John v. State, 356 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978); Davis v. State, 350 So. 2d 834 (Fla.2d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 355 So. 2d 517 (Fla.1978). . Wilson and Henry are distinguishable from our decision in Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 941 (Fla. 1977). In Greene we did not address the applicability of McDole, but, instead, we discussed the issue of remand when voluntariness is not clear. . Our holding in this matter is consistent with the new Florida Evidence Code, effective July 1,…
  • Smith v. State, 372 So. 2d 86 (Fla. 1979)
    …ation as well. Where hearings come after trial, the possibility exists that judges, already concerned with congested court dockets, might become less sensitive to due process considerations. Land v. State, 293 So. 2d at 708; accord, Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 941 (Fla.1977). Moreover, as we recognized in Land and Wilcox, it would be difficult at best for a trial judge to determine the thorny question of prejudice in an isolated Richardson hearing without the possibility of being subconsciously affected by a…
  • Irons v. State, 498 So. 2d 958 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986)
    …presented, the testimony was inadmissible because of the failure to first afford Jolly an opportunity to explain or deny the prior statements. § 90.614(2). Irons’ conviction is vacated, and the case is remanded for a new trial. See Greene v. State, 351 So. 2d 941 (Fla.1977). Prior to the trial, the court should conduct a full evidentiary hearing on the motion to suppress. GRIMES, A.C.J., and CAMPBELL, J., concur.…

Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw