Harris v. State, 82-1134

CourtCourt of Appeal of Florida (US)
Citation427 So.2d 234
Docket NumberNo. 82-1134,82-1134
PartiesDavid HARRIS, Jr., Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Decision Date15 February 1983

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, Blackwell, Walker, Gray, Powers, Flick & Hoehl and Todd A. Cowart, Sp. Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Penny H. Hershoff, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before HUBBART, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The final judgment of conviction and sentence under review is reversed and the cause is remanded to the trial court with directions to order a new trial. We hold that the trial court committed reversible error in denying the defendant's timely motion for mistrial after a police detective, called at trial as a witness for the state, testified over objection before the jury that the defendant had a "prior felony past."

We are led to the above result for the following reasons. First, the above testimony was utterly inadmissible in evidence as its sole relevance was to attack the defendant's character or to show the propensity of the defendant to commit crime. See e.g., Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S.Ct. 102, 4 L.Ed.2d 86 (1959); Mann v. State, 22 Fla. 600 (1886); Selph v. State, 22 Fla. 537 (1886); Green v. State, 190 So.2d 42, 45 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966), and cases collected therein. Second, the presentation before a jury of testimony inadmissible, as here, under the Williams rule has generally been considered classic grounds for a mistrial given its usual devastating impact upon a jury. Vazquez v. State, 405 So.2d 177, 179-80 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), approved in part, quashed in part, 419 So.2d 1088 (Fla.1982). Third, the trial court's "cautionary" instruction to the jury in no way cured the prejudicial impact of such evidence as it did not explicitly or in substance instruct the jury (a) that the offending testimony was inadmissible in evidence and (b) that the jury should disregard it. Fourth, the admission of the offending testimony was not rendered harmless as the state's case was not, as urged, overwhelming in nature given especially the three alibi witnesses presented by the defense at trial. See also Vazquez v. State, 405 So.2d at 179-80.

Reversed and remanded for a new trial.

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9 cases
  • Robertson v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • April 12, 2000
    ...at 662-63; Gonzalez v. State, 559 So.2d 748 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Castro at 114; State v. Lee, 531 So.2d 133 (Fla. 1988); Harris v. State, 427 So.2d 234 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). The state's argument that the evidence was for impeachment purposes must fail where that impeachment could not have occu......
  • J.P. v. State, 88-1855
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • July 11, 1989
    ...Bricker v. State, 462 So.2d 556, 559 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); Rolle v. State, 431 So.2d 326, 327-28 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Harris v. State, 427 So.2d 234, 235 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Wilt v. State, 410 So.2d 924, 925 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Vazquez v. State, 405 So.2d 177, 179 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), approved ......
  • Hicks v. State, 91-230
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • December 3, 1991
    ...531 So.2d 133 (Fla.1988); Hardie v. State, 513 So.2d 791 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987), review denied, 520 So.2d 586 (Fla.1988); Harris v. State, 427 So.2d 234 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). Accordingly, the lower court's judgment is reversed in part and the case remanded for new trial on the charge of battery ......
  • McCall v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • February 5, 1985
    ...1098 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977), cert. denied, 359 So.2d 1217 (Fla.1978). See Ferguson v. State, 417 So.2d 639 (Fla.1982). Cf. Harris v. State, 427 So.2d 234 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983) (detective's testimony that defendant had prior felony past inadmissible and not rendered harmless where state's case not ......
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