Jones v. State

• Decision Date: 27 December 1977
• Docket Number: No. 76-1908,76-1908
• Citation: 353 So.2d 891
• Parties: Larry Darnell JONES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 891

353 So.2d 891

Larry Darnell JONES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 76-1908.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Dec. 27, 1977.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 26, 1978.

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Warren S. Schwartz, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Joel D. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before PEARSON and NATHAN, JJ., and CHARLES CARROLL (Ret.), Associate Judge.

PER CURIAM.

On this appeal by the defendant below, from conviction of robbery, it is contended it was reversible error for the prosecutor to seek to impeach the defendant's exculpatory story told for the first time at trial, by cross-examining the defendant about his failure to have told that story to the police after receiving his Miranda warnings at the time of his arrest; and for comment thereon by the prosecutor later in argument. Due objections were made on behalf of the defendant and motion for mistrial was denied. In Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976) which is in point, the court held "that use of post-arrest silence in this manner violates due process".

Accordingly, on the authority of Doyle v. Ohio, supra, the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded for new trial.