Turner v. State

Decision Date08 October 1954
Citation74 So.2d 891
PartiesJames TURNER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

Fishback, Williams, Davis & Dominick, and Charles E. Davis, Orlando, for appellant.

Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and John S. Lloyd, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TERRELL, Justice.

James Turner was tried and convicted for 'unlawfully aiding and assisting in the setting up, promoting and conducting of a lottery and lottery drawing, and was interested and connected with a lottery drawing, the aforesaid lottery being for money; the aforesaid lottery being commonly known as Bolita and Cuba.' Motion for new trial was denied and sentence of one year in the state penitentiary was imposed. This appeal is from that judgment.

Account of personal friendship of defendant with the prosecuting witnesses who were police officers and who induced him to accept money from them in an effort to purchase gambling bets, it is first contended that the trial court committed error in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of entrapment.

In our view, this question is foreclosed against appellant by Lashley v. State, Fla., 67 So.2d 648, and Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413. These cases explore the question of entrapment fully, making other comment useless except to point out that it is doubtful if under the facts of this case entrapment was such a defense as to merit special jury instruction, nothing but credibility of the evidence being involved.

It is next contended that it was error to permit the prosecuting attorney, over defendant's objection, to display slips of paper called bolita tickets found in defendant's possession, to the jury and to interrogate defendant concerning such slips of paper, they having been secured by illegal search and seizure and having been previously suppressed by the court on motion of defendant.

This is a more serious question but we think it is foreclosed against appellant by Brown v. State, Fla., 46 So.2d 479. It is true that the court held this evidence inadmissible because the search was predicated upon the defective warrant for arrest. The county solicitor did not surrender the tickets but on cross examination it became apparent that appellant was relying on the defense of entrapment so he drew them from his pocket in the presence of the jury and interrogated the defendant about them.

Section 901.15 F.S.A. is not limited in its application to those situations...

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8 cases
  • City of Miami v. Nelson, 65-513.
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • June 7, 1966
    ...the officers had reasonable grounds to believe he had committed a felony. See Flowers v. State, 152 Fla. 649, 12 So.2d 772; Turner v. State, Fla. 1954, 74 So.2d 891; Romanello v. State, Fla.App. 1964, 160 So.2d The opinion of the California court, in Allen v. McCoy, 135 Cal. App. 500, 27 P.......
  • Collins v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • August 1, 1962
    ...seizure of the marijuana which was in plain view was incident to the lawful arrest. Brown v. State, Fla.1950, 46 So.2d 479; Turner v. State, Fla.1954, 74 So.2d 891; Pegueno v. State, Fla.1956, 85 So.2d Traffic in narcotics is one of the most heinous crimes in our modern society and the appr......
  • United States v. Livingston
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Arizona
    • May 16, 2014
    ...agent may rely on such information. See 6A C.J.S. Arrest § 31, citing United States v. Lape, 413 F.2d 816 (9th Cir. 1969), Turner v. State, 74 So.2d 891 (Fla. 1954), State v. Somfleth, 8 Or.App. 171, 492 P.2d 808 (1972). The Court finds Agent Cordice reasonably relied on the information pro......
  • Koptyra v. State, 4965
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • February 26, 1965
    ...was insufficient to raise the issue of entrapment and the court properly refused to instruct the jury on that defense. Turner v. State, Fla.1954, 74 So.2d 891. ANDREWS and KANNER, (Ret.), JJ., concur. 1 Fla.1964, 160 So.2d 706.2 1958, 357 U.S. 301, 78 S.Ct. 1190, 2 L.Ed.2d 1332.3 1963, 374 ......
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