Griffin v. State, J--85
| Decision Date | 26 September 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. J--85,J--85 |
| Citation | 202 So.2d 602 |
| Parties | Jonathan GRIFFIN and Macio Bernard Simpson, Appellants, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
T. Edward Austin, Jr., Public Defender, and James L. Harrison, Asst. Public Defender, for appellants.
Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., and Raymond L. Marky, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Appellants were charged by information in the Criminal Court of Record of Duval County with the offense of robbery. There is competent and substantial evidence, if believed by the jury, to establish that one of the appellants, in company with another defendant, entered the retail store of the victim at 10:45 at night and, upon leveling a sawed-off shotgun and pearl-handled pistol at the owner and others in the store, announced that 'This is a holdup.' By holding the victims at bay across the business end of the shotgun and pistol, the cash register was rifled and the wallet of a workman in the store was taken. Everyone was ordered to lie on the floor while appellant Simpson and his co-defendant fled the scene. They were followed to an automobile where they were arrested along with appellant Griffin who was sitting under the steering wheel in the driver's seat of the car when the robbers reached it.
At the trial only appellant Simpson and his other co-defendant testified for the defense. Simpson denied any complicity in connection with the crime and Griffin did not testify. The other co-defendant was likewise found guilty but has not appealed.
At the conclusion of the evidence appellants requested the court to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of larceny, it being their theory that such offense is included within the more serious offense of robbery with which they were charged in the information. The trial court refused the requested instruction on the basis of prior decisions of this court which adhered to the principle that if the evidence is susceptible of only the single conclusion that the defendant is guilty, if at all, of the more serious offense with which he is charged in the information, it is unnecessary for the court to instruct the jury on the law relating to lesser included offenses which have no evidentiary support in the record. This principle was based upon the universally accepted proposition of law that instructions to the jury must be based upon the evidence adduced at the trial, and if unsupported by any reasonable view of...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hoffman v. Jones
...The other District Courts of Appeal have recognized the relationship between their authority and that of this Court. Griffin v. State, 202 So.2d 602 (Fla.App.1st, 1967); Roberts v. State, 199 So.2d 340 (Fla.App.2d, 1967); and United States v. State, 179 So.2d 890 (Fla.App.3d, 1965). To allo......
-
Simpson v. State
...leading to said reversal is styled Jonathan Griffin and Macio Bernard Simpson v. State, rendered September 26, 1967, and reported at 202 So.2d 602. As can be seen on the face of said opinion, the reversal was based solely and exclusively on the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on ......
-
Simpson v. Florida
...reversed on appeal because the trial judge neglected to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of larceny. Griffin v. State, 202 So.2d 602 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1967). In 1968 petitioner was retried on the same charge and acquitted. Subsequently, he was charged with robbing the custome......