Goldsmith v. State
| Decision Date | 01 February 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-00299,90-00299 |
| Citation | 573 So.2d 445,16 Fla. L. Weekly 356 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | 16 Fla. L. Weekly 356 Darrell Lavette GOLDSMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Stephen Krosschell, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Wendy Buffington, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Goldsmith challenges his conviction for unarmed robbery on the basis that the taking was accomplished without the required force or violence to constitute a robbery. We agree and reverse.
On August 15, 1989, James Ward, a part-time Highlands County deputy sheriff, was working undercover as a drug buyer in Lake Placid. While attempting to negotiate a purchase of crack cocaine from Goldsmith, Goldsmith snatched a ten-dollar bill from Ward's hand and ran. Goldsmith did not touch Ward in the process of the theft. The slight force used by Goldsmith to remove the bill from Ward's hand is insufficient to constitute the crime of robbery. See S.W. v. State, 513 So.2d 1088 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).
Reversed and remanded with directions to adjudicate Goldsmith guilty of petit theft.
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Beazer v. United States
..."a defendant who merely snatches money from the victim's hand and runs away has not committed robbery." Id. (citing Goldsmith v. State , 573 So.2d 445 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991) ); but see Commonwealth v. Jones , 362 Mass. 83, 283 N.E.2d 840, 844-45 (1972). The minimum amount of force required for ......
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Stokeling v. United States
...But a defendant who merely snatches money from the victim's hand and runs away has not committed robbery. Goldsmith v. State, 573 So.2d 445 (Fla.App.1991). Similarly, a defendant who steals a gold chain does not use " ‘force,’ within the meaning of the robbery statute," simply because the v......
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United States v. Williams
...who merely snatches money from the victim's hand and runs away has not committed robbery." Id. at 555 (citing Goldsmith v. State , 573 So.2d 445 (Fla. Ct. App. 1991) ). And in another case, the Florida Court of Appeals held that "a defendant who steals a gold chain does not use force within......