Williams v. State
| Decision Date | 13 January 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. FF-463,FF-463 |
| Parties | Jessie James WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Michael Minerva, Public Defender, David J. Busch, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Richard W. Prospect, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Appellant was convicted of two counts of armed robbery and appeals the judgment and sentence. We find no error and affirm.
Appellant was charged and found guilty by jury of one count of robbing a Jr. Food Store and one count of robbing a Jax Liquor Store. At trial, the state presented the testimony of eye witnesses to the two robberies, none of whom could positively identify appellant as the robber. They all testified that he was about the same size and walked the same way, though one witness could not say whether he was 5'6 or 6' tall. One of the witnesses of the Jax Liquor Store robbery testified that the robber "semi-disguised" his voice but that the robber's voice and that of appellant had some likenesses. All of the eye witnesses testified that the robber wore a stocking over his face which prevented their being able to describe his facial features.
The primary question on this appeal is whether or not the court erred in allowing the state to impeach the testimony of state's witness Maude Leland. She had previously given a detailed statement to investigating officer Brooks in which she declared that appellant had told her he committed the robberies and in which she related the details of the robberies as told to her by appellant. Officer Brooks testified that she came to him with her story while she was at the police station for another purpose to report that appellant had assaulted her. Brooks also testified that when confronted with Maude's accusations, appellant orally confessed that he had robbed the stores.
After having given the aforesaid statement to Officer Brooks, Leland contacted the public defender's office and repudiated her previous statement to Officer Brooks. The public defender had her sign an affidavit declaring that she had lied in that statement and, six days before trial the public defender sent the affidavit to the state attorney. Thereafter, several days before trial and again the morning of the trial, Maude assured the state attorney that she would testify in accordance with her original story as told to Officer Brooks. At trial, however, when the state called her as a witness, she denied the truth of the statement she had made and began to tell a totally inconsistent story. The state attorney claimed surprise and asked the court to declare Maude a hostile witness and allow...
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