Jean-Mary v. State, JEAN-MAR
| Decision Date | 04 September 1996 |
| Docket Number | A,No. 95-2494,JEAN-MAR,95-2494 |
| Citation | 678 So.2d 928 |
| Parties | 21 Fla. L. Weekly D1990 Herveppellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Rosa C. Figarola, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Steven Groves, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Before NESBITT, JORGENSON and GREEN, JJ.
Herve Jean-Mary appeals his conviction and sentence after a jury trial for burglary of an occupied dwelling. His sole contention on appeal is that the trial court improperly precluded him from questioning a key state witness about the witness's recent criminal charge which was nolle prossed by the state approximately sixty to seventy days prior to this trial. We agree and reverse.
Jean-Mary was originally charged with two counts of burglary with assault therein. The state had two key witnesses in this case. One was Tabitha Daniel, Jean-Mary's ex-girlfriend and mother of his child. The other was Ms. Daniel's current boyfriend, Swtone Barreau. During the cross-examination of Daniel, the defense asked Daniel whether she had been charged and arrested for fraudulently obtaining title to an automobile. When the state objected, the defense proffered to the court at side bar that Daniel had been arrested and charged with fraudulently obtaining title to an automobile on May 7, 1994. The defense further proffered that the state nolle prossed this charge against Daniel in March 1995, roughly two months before the start of this trial. The trial court sustained the state's objection to the introduction of this evidence on the basis that there was no evidence of a "deal" having been struck between Daniel and the state for Daniel's testimony in this case.
It is well established that when a prosecution witness is under actual or threatened criminal charges or was recently under an investigation which could result in criminal charges being filed against the witness, the defense is entitled to bring this fact to the jury's attention to show bias, motive, or self interest. Breedlove v. State, 580 So.2d 605, 608 (Fla.1991)(quoting Morrell v. State, 297 So.2d 579, 580 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)); Torres-Arboledo v. State, 524 So.2d 403, 408 (Fla.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 901, 109 S.Ct. 250, 102 L.Ed.2d 239 (1988); Fulton v. State, 335 So.2d 280, 283-84 (Fla.1976); Cortes v. State, 670 So.2d 119 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); Patterson v. State, 501 So.2d 691 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Causey v. State, 484 So.2d 1263, 1264 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), quashed on other grounds, 503 So.2d 321 (Fla.1987). This rule applies even to the instant situation where the charges against the state's witness have been recently dismissed or nolle prossed and there is no specific evidence of any agreement between the witness and the state. Lewis v. State, 623 So.2d 1205 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lugo v. State
...Torres's possible bias toward the State, not whether her lawyer accompanied her during questioning. Lugo's reliance on Jean-Mary v. State, 678 So.2d 928 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996), is misplaced. In Lugo's case, unlike the circumstances in Jean-Mary, the witness under cross-examination had not been ......
-
Fajardo v. State
...will testify and the effect of such testimony on any future action which the state may take against the witness); Jean–Mary v. State, 678 So.2d 928, 928–29 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996) (stating that the rule entitling the defense to bring out the fact that a prosecution witness is under actual or thr......
-
Saldane v. State, 96-142
...investigation stemming from the victim's false deposition testimony, see Breedlove v. State, 580 So.2d 605 (Fla.1991); Jean-Mary v. State, 678 So.2d 928 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996), any attack on the victim's identification of the Defendant is irrelevant because the Defendant admitted to police, in ......
-
Johnson v. State, 5D99-2560.
...pending at the time of the testimony in order to show bias, motive or self-interest on the part of the witness. Jean-Mary v. State, 678 So.2d 928, 928-929 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996). If a prosecution witness is under criminal charges at the time of the testimony, the defendant has the absolute righ......