Parker v. State, 81-940

Decision Date09 November 1982
Docket NumberNo. 81-940,81-940
PartiesCharlie PARKER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Howard K. Blumberg, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Jack Ludin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before HENDRY and SCHWARTZ, JJ., and WILLIAM C. OWEN, Jr. (Ret.), Associate Judge.

HENDRY, Judge.

Appellant, Charlie Parker, appeals his conviction and sentence for grand theft and possession of cocaine.

On the night of July 22, 1980, Kathy Reynolds and William Bordeaux drove to a street corner in Hialeah to purchase marijuana. When they reached the corner, they stopped their automobile and the appellant approached them and sold marijuana to Bordeaux. The appellant then reached into the automobile and took a gold necklace from Reynolds' neck. Reynolds told her father about the incident soon thereafter and he promptly reported it to the police who took a report from her. The next day Bordeaux returned twice to the corner where the marijuana sale and the theft of the necklace took place, and observed the appellant. Bordeaux immediately reported to the police that he had seen the appellant at the corner and the police responded and approached the appellant, who then started running. He was caught and placed under arrest. A search revealed cocaine in his possession.

The appellant was charged in one information with three counts: robbery (Count I), possession of cocaine (Count II), and resisting an officer without violence (Count III).

Following pleas of not guilty, appellant moved to sever Counts II and III from Count I. The motion was denied. However, during trial a motion for acquittal was granted as to Count III. The jury returned verdicts of guilt to grand theft on Count I and possession of cocaine, Count II. On motion of the State, the appellant was sentenced as a habitual offender upon a showing that he had been convicted of robbery in 1978. The trial court imposed an enhanced sentence under section 775.084, Florida Statutes (1981) of ten years on each of the two counts, to run consecutively.

In the first point on appeal appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever Count I from Counts II and III because the grand theft on July 22 and possession of cocaine and resisting an officer without violence on July 23 were not connected within the meaning of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.150(a). 1

We cannot agree and hold that the offenses herein were properly charged in a single information because they were connected in an episodic sense; that is, they were part of the same course of conduct and occurred within a period of a few hours at the very same location. The first offense led to and was connected with the other offenses; that is, the robbery and subsequent investigation led to the arrest and charges of cocaine possession and resisting arrest without violence. Jacobs v. State, 396 So.2d 713 (Fla.1981); Williams v. State, 409 So.2d 253 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Green v. State, 408 So.2d 1086 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982).

Appellant's other point relates to the sentence imposed. It is argued that the trial court erred in sentencing him as a habitual...

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8 cases
  • Navarre v. State, 91-3880
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 10 Noviembre 1992
    ...with Emmons was background evidence clearly pertinent to the second-degree murder charge. Channell, 107 So.2d at 291; Parker v. State, 421 So.2d 712, 713 (Fla.3d DCA 1982) (affirming denial of motion to sever where charges were part of same course of conduct, and connected in episodic sense......
  • Cole v. State, 83-1093
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 9 Septiembre 1985
    ...States v. Contreras, 667 F.2d 976 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 849, 103 S.Ct. 109, 74 L.Ed.2d 97 (1982); Parker v. State, 421 So.2d 712 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Hernandez v. State, 323 So.2d 318 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975). Cole's sentences are modified so that the three-year minimum mandatory......
  • Rutherford v. State, 4D04-1229.
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 4 Mayo 2005
    ...to Rutherford. The motive for the June 3 crimes was to avoid apprehension for the robbery. This case is similar to Parker v. State, 421 So.2d 712 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982), which held that crimes occurring during an arrest the day after a robbery were sufficiently connected to the robbery to be ch......
  • Davis v. State, 82-1349
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 17 Mayo 1983
    ...we find no error in the trial court's denial of defendant's motion to sever. Paul v. State, 385 So.2d 1371 (Fla.1980); Parker v. State, 421 So.2d 712 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); see Clark v. State, 379 So.2d 97 (Fla.1979). Compare Finlay v. State, 424 So.2d 967 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983) (finding that burg......
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