State v. Brown
| Decision Date | 22 April 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. BB--305,BB--305 |
| Citation | 330 So.2d 535 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Joe Leon BROWN, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., for appellant.
Louis O. Frost, Jr., Public Defender; and J. Craig Williams, Asst. Public Defender, Jacksonville, for appellee.
On Motion to Quash
The notice of appeal filed in this case recites: 'The nature of the Order appealed from is an Order granting Defendant's Motion of Acquittal Not Withstanding Verdict.' Appellee-defendant Brown contends that the state has no right to appeal a judgment of acquittal in a criminal proceeding, and thus his motion to quash the instant appeal should be granted. We agree.
Appellate review of any order or judgment entered by a trial court is not a right derived from the common law; it is derived from the sovereign. State v. Smith, 260 So.2d 489 (Fla.1972). The state's right to seek appellate review in a criminal case is purely statutory and is found in Florida Statute 924.07. Whidden v. State, 159 Fla. 691, 32 So.2d 577 (1947). 1 Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380(c) authorizes a defendant to make or renew a motion for judgment of acquittal after a jury has returned a verdict of guilty. The trial judge's challenged order acquitted the defendant, therefore, the state is seeking to appeal from a final judgment of acquittal in a criminal proceeding.
In oral argument which was directed by this court, the state conceded that the sole statutory language which might be construed to authorize the instant appeal is stated in subsection (1) of Florida Statute 924.07, viz: 'An order dismissing an indictment or information or any count thereof;' and then reasons that the instant order may be construed as being within the purview of the cited rule. We decline to place such a tortuous construction upon the plain language and meaning of 'indictment or information'.
Finally, the state urges this court to in the alternative treat the notice of appeal as a petition for writ of common law certiorari and review the controverted order. As stated above, appellate review of a judgment of acquittal entered in a criminal proceeding is not authorized. The state's ore tenus motion for common law certiorari is denied.
Appellee's motion to quash this appeal is granted.
1 Also see In Re Florida Appellate Rules 1962 Revision, 142 So.2d 724 (Fla.1962), wherein the Supreme Court stated: ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Delap v. Dugger
...from the case, and that ruling could not be appealed." District Court Amended Order 18-19 (emphasis in original). See State v. Brown, 330 So.2d 535, 536 (Fla.1976). The acquittal of felony murder was essential to the prior proceeding; while Delap was still found guilty of first degree murde......
-
State v. Creighton
... ... See, e.g., State ex rel. Sebers v. McNulty, 326 So.2d 17 (Fla.1975); Clement v. Aztec Sales, Inc., 297 So.2d 1 (Fla.1974); State v. Matera, 378 So.2d 1283 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); State v. I.B., 366 So.2d 186 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); State v. Brown, ... 330 So.2d 535 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); see generally Fla.R.App.P. 9.140, Committee Note ... This understanding is in keeping with the common-law rule that a writ of error 6 would lie for the defendant but not for the state. Thus it is now generally held that, unless expressly ... ...
-
State v. G.P.
...remains intact. Notwithstanding the foregoing arguments in favor of the state's right to appeal, the First District, in State v. Brown, 330 So.2d 535 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976), held that the right of the state to appeal from a final judgment in a criminal case is entirely statutory in nature. 4 A......
-
Florida v. Meyers
...at the trial, the issue will be mooted; and if the State loses, governing state law, Fla.Stat. § 924.07 (1981); State v. Brown, 330 So.2d 535, 536 (Fla.App.1976), will prohibit it from presenting the federal claim for review. In such circumstances, we have consistently held that "the decisi......