Jackson v. State, 85-1727

• Decision Date: 07 August 1987
• Docket Number: No. 85-1727,85-1727
• Parties: 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1925 John William JACKSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1047

511 So.2d 1047

12 Fla. L. Weekly 1925

John William JACKSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 85-1727.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

Second District.

Aug. 7, 1987.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 3, 1987.

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow, and Deborah K. Brueckheimer, Asst. Public Defender, Tampa, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Michael J. Kotler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

The state charged John William Jackson with first degree murder and armed burglary. Jackson was tried by jury and found guilty of both offenses. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum mandatory term of twenty-five years. In this appeal we focus on the one meritorious point presented by Jackson that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal.

At Jackson's trial, the state's evidence revealed that on December 19, 1983, around 4:30 a.m., Marie Felver Porter was raped and stabbed in her house trailer on Drawdy Road, Plant City. She went to a neighbor's door for help and told him that "an orange picker, Michigan tag" had done it. She died shortly thereafter from multiple stab wounds to her neck. An autopsy revealed a bruise on her right wrist which was later determined to be a bite mark. At approximately 7:30 a.m. on the day of the crime the police arrived at the scene, where they obtained blood, semen and saliva stains, fingerprints, and hair samples.

Jackson, a 31-year-old, Caucasian male, had lived in the vicinity of the victim's trailer from approximately July 1983 until a few days before the crime, when he moved a few miles away. He lived in the yards of various neighbors, either in a tent or in his car.

On January 13, 1984, Jackson was questioned by the police. He appeared voluntarily and denied knowing the victim or her husband. He told the police he had spent the night of the murder at a rest area on Interstate 4, some fifteen to twenty miles from Marie Porter's trailer. He said that on December 19, 1983, at around 5:15 a.m. he went to the Minute Man Labor Pool in Tampa, where he remembered seeing a Mr. Abe Abdu. The Minute Man Labor Pool records did not reveal that he had worked on that day. Mr. Abdu did not see Jackson at the labor pool in the early morning; he saw him only at the time he was leaving. With Jackson's consent he was fingerprinted. Also with his consent, the police took impressions of his teeth and collected samples of his pubic and head hair and his blood.

On January 31, 1984, Jackson had a conversation with Charles and Patricia Fuller, on whose property he had lived during the latter part of 1983. Jackson told them that when the police had interrogated him he learned that the victim had been raped, stabbed, and bitten. This was before the police had released the information that the victim had been bitten. Mrs. Fuller acknowledged that Jackson had told her that he had been picking oranges. She also stated that she had seen the defendant carrying a knife. Mr. Fuller testified that during the time he knew him, the defendant had worked as a heavy equipment operator out of a labor pool in Tampa.

The state presented a number of expert witnesses. Dr. Richard Souviron, a forensic odontologist, concluded that the bite mark on the victim's wrist was consistent with Jackson's teeth impressions. FBI Agent Michael Malone, an expert in hair and fibers analysis, identified two head hairs found on the victim's pajama top as being indistinguishable from Jackson's hair sample. These hairs on the victim's pajamas were identified as having been forcibly removed. Negroid hairs found in a window screen and a Negroid pubic hair found in the combed pubic hair of the victim, plus several other strands of Caucasian hair, were not identified.

At the conclusion of the state's case, Jackson moved for a judgment of acquittal under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380. He argued that the state's case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence and did not exclude any reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence. The trial court denied his motion. The defendant then introduced evidence on his own behalf, none of which tended to incriminate him. At the conclusion of all evidence, the defendant again moved for judgment of acquittal. Again, the trial court denied the motion.

When, as here, the state's evidence against the defendant is circumstantial, this court's role is to determine whether the jury might have reasonably concluded that the evidence excluded every reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt. Tsavaris v. State, 414 So.2d 1087 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). The weight of the evidence is a matter for the trier of fact, and a jury verdict should not be reversed where there is substantial, competent evidence to support it. Heiney v. State, 447 So.2d 210 (Fla.1984). Nevertheless, in criminal convictions based solely on circumstantial evidence, it is our duty to reverse the conviction when that evidence, although strongly suggesting guilt, fails to eliminate any reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Owen v. State, 432 So.2d 579 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). Here, we conclude that the state did not present substantial, competent evidence to support the jury's verdict; hence, we must vacate the defendant's convictions.

There were three items of crucial evidence presented by the state: first, the consistent bite mark; second, Jackson's statement to the Fullers that the victim had been bitten; and third, the strands of hair found on the victim matching Jackson's hair. We now examine the probative effect of each of these items of evidence.

Dr. Souviron was qualified as an expert in forensic odontology and bite-mark analysis. He testified...