Farley v. City of Tallahassee
| Decision Date | 21 January 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. N--130,N--130 |
| Citation | 243 So.2d 161 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Joseph Stockton FARLEY, Jr., Petitioner, v. CITY OF TALLAHASSEE, Florida, Respondent. |
Joseph Stockton Farley, Jr., in pro. per.
Edward J. Hill, Roy Rhodes, and Hayward V. Atkinson, Tallahassee, for respondent.
This is a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the lower court's judgment affirming a conviction on charges of driving while under the influence of alcohol in the Municipal Court of Tallahassee.
The incident charged upon occurred when a vehicle owned and occupied by petitioner ran off the side of the road in the vicinity of the university campus and came to rest in a culvert. The vehicle was also occupied by petitioner's wife and daughter, none of whom appear to have been injured. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.
Several issues are raised by petitioner in support of his contention that the affirmance blow amounted to a departure from the essential requirements of law, but it is necessary to focus our attention only on one; namely, petitioner's contention that fundamental error was committed when his admission that he was driving at the time of the accident was admitted in evidence before the corpus delicti of the offense charged was proved. We think petitioner's contention in this regard is well taken and requires reversal of the conviction.
Petitioner was not present at the scene of the accident when the traffic accident investigating officers arrived at 1:30 A.M. on the day in question. When petitioner arrived some thirty minutes later, his wife and child were no longer present, she having been arrested and placed in custody at the police station presumably for some offense arising out of or connected with the vehicular accident. In any event, upon his arrival at the scene the investigating officer addressed a series of questions to petitioner and ascertained from him that he was the driver of the car when it went into the ditch. Thereupon petitioner was taken to the station where he was ultimately charged with driving while intoxicated.
Aside from petitioner's admission at the scene that he was the driver, there was no other evidence on that critical element of the offense charged. Without such evidence as was gained from the defendant himself, there was no proof that the offense charged was ever committed by anyone. Nor was there evidence as to the existence of circumstances from which it could be inferred that a drunken driver was at the wheel of the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Childers v. State
...order that they run consecutively); J.B. v. State, 689 So.2d 360, 360 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) ("To the extent that Farley [v. City of Tallahassee, 243 So.2d 161 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971),] may be read as suggesting that such preservation is not required, we would now abandon this interpretation."), a......
-
Childers v. State
...order that they run consecutively); J.B. v. State, 689 So.2d 360, 360 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) ("To the extent that Farley [v. City of Tallahassee, 243 So.2d 161 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971),] may be read as suggesting that such preservation is not required, we would now abandon this interpretation."), a......
-
Syverud v. State, 5D07-2376.
...was operating the vehicle while he was under the influence. See State v. Allen, 335 So.2d 823 (Fla.1976); Farley v. City of Tallahassee, 243 So.2d 161 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971). See also Burks v. State, 589 So.2d 355 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991); State v. Hepburn, 460 So.2d 422 (Fla. 5th DCA Here, the tri......
-
State v. Hepburn, 83-1638
...1130 (Fla.1981); McQueen v. State, 304 So.2d 501 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974), cert. denied, 315 So.2d 193 (Fla.1975); Farley v. City of Tallahassee, 243 So.2d 161 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971). The trial court's conclusion that the state could not prove the corpus delicti of the offenses charged with evidenc......