State v. Ray, 92-1735

Citation604 So.2d 1249
Decision Date02 September 1992
Docket NumberNo. 92-1735,92-1735
PartiesSTATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Teddy RAY, Respondent. 604 So.2d 1249, 17 Fla. L. Week. D2049
CourtCourt of Appeal of Florida (US)

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Don M. Rogers, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for petitioner.

No response for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

We grant the state's petition for writ of certiorari and quash the trial court order compelling the victim of a criminal offense to appear at a live lineup and identify the person who committed the offenses upon her.

Ray is charged with armed robbery and attempted first degree murder. The victim identified the respondent from a photo lineup. Ten months after the incident, defense counsel moved the court to require the victim to appear at a live lineup and to identify the person who committed the subject crimes.

Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220, governing criminal discovery, contains no express provision authorizing an order to compel the victim of a crime to appear at a lineup or otherwise comply with similar discovery requests. In State v. Smith, 260 So.2d 489 (Fla.1972), the supreme court held that the trial court lacked authority to order witnesses, who might be used by the state to identify persons involved in a crime, to be examined for visual acuity by a specific physician, even though the state's case depended on these same eyewitnesses for identifying the defendant. However, while the supreme court ruled that the trial court lacked authority to order this discovery, it conceded that there may be rare instances where justice requires some physical examination of a witness. The court added that much more would have to be shown in such an instance.

Applying Smith, the First District Court, in State v. Diamond, 553 So.2d 1185 (Fla.1st DCA 1988), granted certiorari and quashed a trial court order construed as requiring the complaining child witnesses to consent to physical examination by the defendant's expert gynecologist. The First District said that such a trial court order departed from the essential requirements of law. In its en banc decision, a plurality stated that the supreme court's strong language in Smith must be looked at as a "firm warning to those who would feel moved to lead the jurisprudence of our state into unchartered waters by creating, via spontaneous generation, a criminal defense right to have crime victims or witnesses subjected to physical examinations." Id. at 1194.

The en banc decision also noted this court's opinion in Dinkins v. State, 244 So.2d 148 (Fla. 4th DCA 197...

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6 cases
  • State v. Kuntsman, 94-1269
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • October 12, 1994
    ...has also been applied to cases where the trial court has ordered a victim to appear and participate at a live line-up. See State v. Ray, 604 So.2d 1249 (Fla. 4th DCA) (analogizing a trial court's order which requires the victim of an armed robbery to appear at a live line-up to cases involv......
  • State v. Thomas, 95-1150
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • July 21, 1995
    ...showing. See State v. Cobb, 619 So.2d 1056 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993); State v. Kuntsman, 643 So.2d 1172 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994); State v. Ray, 604 So.2d 1249 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, 613 So.2d 8 PETITION GRANTED. DAUKSCH, GOSHORN and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. ...
  • State v. Suarez, 96-1717
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • August 21, 1996
    ...remedy, we grant the petition and quash the trial court's order. See State v. Kuntsman, 643 So.2d 1172 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994); State v. Ray, 604 So.2d 1249 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, 613 So.2d 8 Certiorari granted; order quashed. ...
  • State v. Cobb, 93-1355
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • June 22, 1993
    ...for writ of certiorari is granted and the order requiring the eyewitness to attend a pre-trial line-up is quashed. See State v. Ray, 604 So.2d 1249 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied, 613 So.2d 8 PETITION GRANTED. W. SHARP, and THOMPSON, JJ. concur. ...
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