L.C. v. State, 86-2183
| Decision Date | 08 December 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-2183,86-2183 |
| Parties | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 2748 L.C., a juvenile, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Bruce A. Rosenthal, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Margarita Muina Febres, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before NESBITT, DANIEL S. PEARSON and JORGENSON, JJ.
L.C. appeals from his adjudication of juvenile delinquency for the offense of loitering and prowling. We reverse because the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction.
At around 10:10 P.M. on May 20, 1986, police officer Harrelson observed L.C. riding a bicycle into a shopping center parking lot. Because there had been a number of purse-snatchings in the area, Harrelson decided to watch L.C. A number of the stores had already closed for the night. L.C. rode up and down three times looking into the store windows. He stopped and pulled or pushed on the door of a closed department store. L.C. then rode his bicycle out of the center. Harrelson followed him. The juvenile proceeded down the road for 25 yards to an area where there were office and apartment buildings and a convenience store. He placed the bicycle against a fence and began walking towards a brightly lit area. Another officer named Kennedy arrived and approached and stopped L.C. Kennedy began questioning L.C. and Harrelson parked his automobile and joined Kennedy. L.C. appeared to be nervous. He told the officers that he had stopped to tie his shoes although the officers observed that they were not untied. L.C. said he was going to buy his mother cigarettes but conceded that he did not have any money. L.C. then told the officers that he was going to his uncle's house in the neighborhood to get money. He could not give his uncle's address but claimed that his uncle was a Homestead police officer. The state conceded at oral argument that evidence at trial indicated that L.C.'s uncle was indeed an officer with the Homestead department. Officers Harrelson and Kennedy made no attempt to verify L.C.'s explanation but arrested him for loitering and prowling. At trial, at the conclusion of the state's case and again after all of the evidence, L.C. moved for a judgment of acquittal. The trial court denied the motion and adjudicated L.C. guilty of loitering and prowling.
The trial court erred in denying L.C.'s motion for acquittal. For L.C. to be adjudicated guilty of the offense of loitering and prowling, the state had to prove that
(1) the defendant loitered or prowled in a place, at a time, or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals; [and] (2) such loitering and prowling were under circumstances that warranted a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.
State v. Ecker, 311 So.2d 104, 106 (Fla.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1019, 96 S.Ct. 455, 46 L.Ed.2d 391 (1975); § 856.021(1), Fla.Stat. (1985). The defendant's actions in the instant case do not amount to evidence sufficient to sustain a conviction for loitering and prowling. Even assuming that the first prong of the test was satisfied, there is simply no evidence that the...
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