Piantadosi v. State, 74--935
| Decision Date | 08 April 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 74--935,74--935 |
| Citation | 311 So.2d 742 |
| Parties | Martin Michael PIANTADOSI, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Sheldon Yavitz, Miami, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Joel D. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before PEARSON, HENDRY and HAVERFIELD, JJ.
At 5 o'clock in the morning on January 17, 1974, officer Ronald Kryda of the North Miami Beach Police Department spotted the defendant-appellant Martin Piantadosi, running from the second floor of an apartment building.
The officer testified that he saw Piantadosi carrying several suitcases as he ran and that he was dropping things from these bags.
Then, officer Kryda saw the appellant run to a green MG automobile (which was parked in the apartment parking lot in a 'peculiar' manner indicating a quick getaway was contemplated) and hurriedly toss the bags in through the window.
The officer decided that he should investigate because, in his words, 'I had probaable cause to believe that something was going on, when somebody is running down the stairway at five o'clock in the morning.'
Kryda drove his police car in front of the MG, got out and asked Piantadosi and his companion who was driving the MG, one James Porreca, for identification and what they were doing.
The officer testified that Piantadosi told him he had just come from his girl friend's apartment where he had picked up some tennis equipment, and he was going to play tennis.
The police officer felt this explanation was 'rather peculiar' and he decided to investigate further.
So, Kryda requested Piantadosi to take him to his girl friend's apartment. The officer stated that the appellant took him to the second floor and after some hesitation pointed to apartment number 224.
The officer knocked and a woman answered who had been awarkened and who was annoyed that she had been disturbed and who denied knowing Piantadosi.
Then, Kryda was informed by a backup officer who had just arrived on the scene that a breaking and entering in progress had just been reported over their police radio. The location of the break in was reported as being at apartment number 225.
The police officers went next door, and the learned that the victim had just reported a break in, and that he had seen the burglar hurriedly leaving his apartment. The victim had not seen the culprit's face, but he told Kryda he was wearing a brown coat, and he was tall, thin and had dark hair.
Piantadosi was wearing a brown coat, and Kryda advised the appellant that he was under arrest. Thereafter, the officer and the victim walked downstairs to identify the stolen items.
Along the way, the victim was pointing out to the officer such items as tennis balls, sweat pants, a wristband and a headband which he stated belonged to him. He also identified a tennis bag in the MG as belonging to him.
Piantadosi and Porreca both testified offering their versions of what happened. They said they were playing chess at the appellant's apartment, when Piantadosi received a phone call from a girl friend at 4:30 A.M.
The appellant testified that he and Porreca drove to the girl's apartment because he (the appellant) wanted to have sexual intercourse with her.
Piantadosi stated that when he got on the second floor he suddenly realized that he had forgotten to ask his girl friend (who had moved there about a month and a half earlier) which apartment she lived in.
He decided to return to the car, drive home and call her up to find out. Then, on his way back the appellant discovered the various tennis items on the ground and he made up his mind to take that which he needed.
Piantadosi's girl friend then testified as a state's rebuttal witness. She denied ever calling him at such an early hour in the morning or ever having sexual intercourse with him.
Following a hearing on the appellant's motion to suppress evidence and a non-jury trial, the trial court found the appellant guilty of the crimes of breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor, to-wit: petit larceny, and petit larceny and sentenced him to serve a total of four years imprisonment.
On appeal, the defendant raises two points for reversal. First, appellant asserts that the evidence against him was uncovered in this case following an unreasonable and unbridled detention and an illegal arrest without probably cause, and therefore the trial court should have granted his motion to suppress.
Next, appellant argues that the court should have granted his motion for a judgment of acquittal because the circumstantial evidence against him was insufficient to support a conviction.
In our view, neither point contains substantial merit, and accordingly the judgment is affirmed.
The state has presented two procedural obstacles to our consideration of the appellant's contention that the evidence against him was illegally seized in this case. The...
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Jones v. State
...burglary and to negate defendant's statement to police denying such involvement; car burglary convictions upheld); Piantadosi v. State, 311 So.2d 742 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975) (state's evidence deemed sufficient to link defendant to burglary/larceny and to negate defendant's exonerating trial test......
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Dudley v. State, 86-269
...68 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981); Francis v. State, 58 So.2d 872 (Fla.1951); M.R. v. State, 399 So.2d 56 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Piantadosi v. State, 311 So.2d 742 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975); Jones v. State, 466 So.2d 301 App. at 324 n. 42 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) and cases collected (Hubbart, J., ...
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Smith v. State, 77-1856
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Rigaud v. State, s. 78-863 and 78-924
...goods. We find that the jury's rejection of this hypothesis was reasonable under the circumstances of the case. In Piantadosi v. State, 311 So.2d 742 (Fla.3d DCA 1975), the court On appeal, the test is not whether this court sitting as trier of fact thinks the evidence excludes every reason......