Walton v. State
| Decision Date | 24 September 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. WW-244,WW-244 |
| Citation | 404 So.2d 776 |
| Parties | LeRoy WALTON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Michael E. Allen, Public Defender, and Michael M. Corin and Thomas Presnell, Jr., Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Raymond L. Marky, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
The appellant challenges his conviction for grand and petty theft on the grounds that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence and in refusing to dismiss the information against him.
Officer Barbour, on May 21, 1979, as a follow-up to an anonymous tip, set up surveillance of a duplex in which the appellant resided. While waiting for a back-up unit to arrive, the officer observed the appellant drive away. Barbour approached the duplex and was able to look through the door and observe a female occupant and a three-piece shelving unit fitting the description of a unit recently stolen from Dean Construction Company. The appellant was arrested and placed in the Alachua County Adult Detention Center. On May 31, 1979, while appellant was still in the Center, Officer Barbour returned to the premises with a search warrant. Entry was gained to the duplex by use of a key supplied by either Mr. Egon Klementi, the owner of the apartment complex, or a third party. Mr. Klementi took the officers to the rear of the duplex and unlocked a shed. The appellant was charged and convicted for theft of items found in the duplex and shed.
The conviction must be reversed. Knowledge and intent are essential elements of the offense charged. The State has attempted to obviate its burden of proof by its reliance upon the rule that possession of recently stolen goods carries with it the inference that the possessor is the guilty taker. State v. Young, 217 So.2d 567 (Fla.1968). The position taken by the State ignores the restrictive nature of the rule. The inference of guilty taking that accompanies the possession of recently stolen goods is limited by the further requirement that possession be personal, that it involve a distinct and conscious assertion of possession by the accused, and that possession must be exclusive. Griffin v. State, 370 So.2d 860 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979).
The State agrees that the duplex in which the stolen items were found was leased to the appellant and two other named occupants, Sally Walton and Patti Elizabeth King. The shed was also...
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Midgette v. State
...sharing the location where stolen property was found with others, does not support the inference instruction. See Walton v. State, 404 So.2d 776, 777 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) (holding that joint possession of duplex and shed where stolen property found was insufficient). Likewise, “[m]ere knowle......
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Wagner v. State
...mobile home in which he, his parents and sister lived. This is clearly insufficient to sustain the convictions. See, Walton v. State, 404 So.2d 776 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), petition for review denied, 412 So.2d 471 Accordingly, the Order of Judgment and Sentence appealed is REVERSED and the cas......
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A.L. v. State
...distinct and conscious assertion of possession. See Chamberland v. State, 429 So. 2d 842, 843 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) ; Walton v. State, 404 So. 2d 776, 777 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981).In Chamberland, the Fourth District reversed a conviction for possession of a stolen air conditioner where the State's......
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Scobee v. State, BD-445
...from proof of possession of recently stolen property: (1) an inference that the possessor stole the property, as in Walton v. State, 404 So.2d 776 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), and Griffin v. State, 370 So.2d 860 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); and (2) an inference that the possessor knew or should have known ......