FULWORD v. State, 5D09-1092.
| Decision Date | 05 March 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 5D09-1092.,5D09-1092. |
| Citation | 29 So.3d 425 |
| Parties | Clifford FULWORD, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Edward J. Weiss, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
Clifford Fulword timely appeals the order denying his motion for new trial, filed after an Orange County jury found him guilty of robbery with a firearm and aggravated battery with a firearm. The State concedes that the trial court applied an incorrect legal standard when addressing Fulword's motion. We agree, and reverse with directions that the trial court reconsider the motion, applying the correct standard.
The State's case against Fulword rested solely on the trial testimony of Shawn Swallow, the alleged victim. Swallow's testimony was somewhat disjointed, and at times appeared inconsistent. Fulword's new trial motion argued, in part, that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence due to inconsistencies in Swallow's account of the events at issue. In denying the motion, the trial court stated in pertinent part:
However, when considering a motion for new trial under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.600(a)(2), based on a claim that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, the trial court must exercise its discretion to determine "whether a greater amount of credible evidence supports one side of an issue or the other." Geibel v. State, 817 So.2d 1042, 1044 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) (citation omitted) (emphasis added); see also Moore v. State, 800 So.2d 747, 749 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001) () (quoting State v. Hart, 632 So.2d 134, 135 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)) (citation omitted). Thus, rule 3.600(a)(2) "`enables the trial judge to weigh the evidence and determine the credibility of witnesses so as to act, in effect, as an additional juror.'" Id. (quoting Tibbs v. State, 397 So.2d 1120, 1123 n. 9 (Fla.1981), affirmed, 457 U.S. 31, 102 S.Ct. 2211, 72...
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King v. State
...its discretion to determine whether a greater amount of credible evidence supported the State's case. We agree.In Fulword v. State, 29 So.3d 425 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010), our court explained that, when reviewing a claim that the jury's verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence, the tria......
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