Lackos v. State
| Decision Date | 04 February 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 74--1320,74--1320 |
| Parties | Lewis Joseph LACKOS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jack O. Johnson, Public Defender, Bartow, and Ellen Condon, Asst. Public Defender, Tampa, and Wayne Chalu, Legal Intern, Tampa, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Robert J. Landry, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Appellant was convicted of buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of stolen property. There was ample evidence to support the judgment. The issue which prompts our concern is whether the court erred in permitting the state to amend its information during the course of the trial.
In the information, the owner of the property was specified to be Remington Electric Razors, Incorporated. During the state's case, the local manager of the company from which the electric razors had been stolen testified that the correct corporate name of the firm at the time of this incident was Remington Electric Shavers, a Division of Sperry Rand Corporation. At this point, the state moved to amend its information to set forth the correct corporate name. Upon objection, the court offered to continue the trial for as long as reasonably necessary for the appellant to seek to obtain evidence to indicate that he would be prejudiced by the amendment. Appellant's counsel asserted that prejudice was beside the point and declined the offer of continuance. Thereupon, the state was permitted to amend, and the appellant was subsequently convicted.
In Alvarez v. State, 1946, 157 Fla. 254, 25 So.2d 661, the information charged the defendant with breaking and entering a building owned by Harold McGucken with intent to commit a felony, to wit: grand larceny. In the middle of the trial, it developed that the building was actually owned by McGucken Liquor Stores, Inc., a corporation. Over the defendant's objection, the court permitted the state to amend its information by striking out the name of the alleged owner and inserting in lieu thereof the proper name. This was held to be reversible error by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court followed Alvarez in Sipos v. State, Fla.1956, 90 So.2d 113, when it held that the lower court erred during the trial in permitting an information charging burglary of a building owned by Sterchi Brothers, Inc., a corporation, to be amended to read Sterchi Brothers Stores, Inc., a corporation.
As in the case of burglary, ownership is an essential element of the charge of buying, receiving or aiding in the concealment of stolen property. Pelaez v. State, 1932, 107 Fla. 50, 144 So. 364. Therefore, must this case be reversed when there is not even the remote suggestion that appellant was prejudiced by the amendment? We think not.
Alvarez is distinguishable to the...
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Snipes v. State
...occur, the emphasis is on determining whether anyone was prejudiced by the departure." Id. at 219 (quoting Lackos v. State, 326 So.2d 220, 221 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)). In this case, the victim was identified by four different names in the indictment: "Markus Mueller a/k/a Markus Muller a/k/a Ma......
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State v. Anderson
...the district court apparently overlooked Lackos v. State, 339 So.2d 217 (Fla.1976) where we accepted jurisdiction of Lackos v. State, 326 So.2d 220 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976) because of conflict with Alvarez and Sipos. In Lackos, during trial and over the objection of the defendant, the state was p......
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Lackos v. State, 48898
...of continuance. Thereupon, the State was permitted to amend, and the petitioner was subsequently convicted. In an opinion reported at 326 So.2d 220, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the action taken by the trial court. Because of conflict in decision with Alvarez v. State, 157 F......
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Stevens v. State
...to reflect that the revolver involved was actually a .38 Dan Wesson. The trial court denied the motion. But see Lackos v. State, 326 So.2d 220 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Holland v. State, 359 So.2d 28 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978), cert. den., 367 So.2d 1124 (Fla.1979); Richardson v. State, 251 So.2d 570 (Fl......