Deliford v. State, 85-2718

Decision Date31 March 1987
Docket NumberNo. 85-2718,85-2718
Citation505 So.2d 523,12 Fla. L. Weekly 894
Parties12 Fla. L. Weekly 894 Byron D. DELIFORD, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Robert Kalter, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Mark J. Berkowitz, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Geri Weintraub, Certified Legal Intern, for appellee.

Before BARKDULL, HUBBART and BASKIN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant Byron D. Deliford appeals a judgment of conviction and sentence entered against him on an adverse jury verdict. We affirm the judgment of conviction, reverse the sentence, and remand for resentencing, based on the following briefly stated legal analysis.

First, we reject the defendant's contention that the trial court erred in allowing the state to introduce similar act evidence of an auto theft for which the defendant had previously been found not guilty because, as counsel conceded at oral argument, the defendant was not, in fact, acquitted of the auto theft. We further reject the defendant's contention, made at oral argument, that the auto theft evidence was not otherwise admissible, as such evidence was plainly relevant in order to give an intelligent account of the crime charged. See Kinchen v. State, 297 So.2d 341, 341 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); Feldman v. State, 212 So.2d 21, 22 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968); Horner v. State, 149 So.2d 863, 865 (Fla. 3d DCA 1963).

Second, we reject the defendant's contention that the trial court erred in denying a defense motion for a mistrial based on the prosecuting attorney's closing argument to the jury because: (a) the defendant did not object to the complained-of argument until after the prosecuting attorney had completed his argument, and, accordingly, the point has not been properly preserved for appellate review, see Wilson v. State, 436 So.2d 908, 910 (Fla.1983); State v. Cumbie, 380 So.2d 1031, 1033 (Fla.1980); Clark v. State, 363 So.2d 331, 334-35 (Fla.1978), and, (b) the complained-of argument was entirely proper in any event. See Francis v. State, 384 So.2d 967, 968-69 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980); Delaney v. State, 342 So.2d 1098, 1099 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977); Wilson v. State, 305 So.2d 50, 52 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975).

Third, we accept the state's concession that the defendant's sentencing point has merit. The Florida Supreme Court has held, subsequent to the imposition of sentence below, that habitual offender...

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5 cases
  • Morganti v. State, 87-0312
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 12 Agosto 1987
    ...addressing the issue, has held that, in such a case, the sentence on remand must be within the Guidelines. Deliford v. State, 505 So.2d 523 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); Albury v. State, 503 So.2d 460 (Fla. 3d DCA While we believe that an affirmance is appropriate, we note that the problem created by......
  • Davis v. State, 90-2443
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 3 Diciembre 1991
    ...cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 164, 116 L.Ed.2d 128 (1991); State v. Cumbie, 380 So.2d 1031 (Fla.1980); Deliford v. State, 505 So.2d 523, 524 (Fla. 3d DCA We agree that (a) the combined effect of the first two of the complained-of arguments were sufficiently improper, and (b) the ev......
  • McGriff v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 22 Diciembre 1987
    ...nature of a defendant is not a valid reason for departing from the sentencing guidelines. Whitehead, 498 So.2d at 865; Deliford v. State, 505 So.2d 523 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). However, the habitual offender statute may be used to exceed the statutory maximum so long as the sentence does not exc......
  • Deliford v. State, 87-2169
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 5 Julio 1988
    ...Before BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ., and WARREN H. COBB, Associate Judge. WARREN H. COBB, Associate Judge. In the case of Deliford v. State, 505 So.2d 523 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), this court reversed the departure sentence imposed upon the defendant Deliford because the reason given therefor was in......
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