J.S. v. State, 4D14-3775

• Decision Date: 04 January 2017
• Docket Number: No. 4D14-4033,No. 4D14-4031,No. 4D14-4032,No. 4D14-3775,4D14-3775,4D14-4031,4D14-4032,4D14-4033
• Parties: J.S., a Child, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

J.S., a Child, Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 4D14-3775
No. 4D14-4031
No. 4D14-4032
No. 4D14-4033

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

January 4, 2017

Consolidated appeals from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; James L. Martz, Judge; L.T. Case Nos. 12CJ003787AMB, 13CJ000748AMB, 13CJ002525AMB, and 14CJ000659A.

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Virginia Murphy, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Cynthia L. Comras, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

LEE, ROBERT W., Associate Judge.

The appellant was adjudicated delinquent for the charge of burglary with assault while armed. The appellant timely appeals the trial court's decision, as well as three violation-of-probation petitions which have been consolidated into this appeal. Specifically, the appellant challenges the trial court's determination that all the elements of the crime of assault were proven. Because we agree that the evidence was insufficient to prove all elements of the crime of assault, we reverse.

Facts

Between 1:30-2:00 a.m., the victim in this case heard noise behind his home which also housed his auto-repair business. When he came outside to investigate, he saw one of his trucks moving because someone was yanking the hitch of the vehicle. The victim approached the vehicle and noticed the appellant touching the truck.

Page 2

As the victim got closer to the truck, he noticed a second person at a different vehicle. Because of the positioning of the vehicles, the victim was now between the two burglars. The appellant dropped to his knees while the other burglar began to approach the victim. At this point, the victim raised his personal firearm, scaring off the second burglar who began to run away.

While brandishing his own firearm, the victim then approached the first burglar who was now on the ground. He saw the appellant "moving his right arm towards something, like he's going to grab something." The victim thought it might be a weapon and became afraid. Before the appellant was able to reach anything, the victim reached down and removed what turned out to be a weapon—a pellet gun—from the appellant's waist. This was the first point at which the victim actually saw the weapon. At the delinquency hearing, the victim acknowledged that he did not know what the appellant was doing in reaching for his waist, but assumed the...