AMW v. State

934 So. 2d 564, 2006 WL 1787790
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in AMW v. State. Read the opinion of the Court — 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 10774
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided June 30, 2006·No. 5D05-1517·Published

Opinion

934 So.2d 564 (2006)

A.M.W., a Child, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 5D05-1517.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

June 30, 2006.

*566 James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Robert E. Wildridge, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

THOMPSON, J.

A.M.W. appeals his adjudication of delinquency and sentencing for: (1) armed burglary of a dwelling with a firearm;[1] (2) grand theft of a firearm;[2] (3) the lesser-included offense of third-degree grand theft;[3] (4) third-degree grand theft of a motor vehicle;[4] and (5) dealing in stolen property.[5] The court committed A.M.W. to a juvenile detention facility at restrictiveness level eight until his nineteenth birthday. A.M.W. raises two points on appeal: (1) The court erred by denying his motion for judgment of acquittal with respect to armed burglary and grand theft of a firearm; and (2) double jeopardy precludes his adjudications for dealing in stolen property, grand theft of a firearm, grand theft auto and third-degree grand theft. We affirm as to his first argument, and reverse in part as to the second.

The victim, Lambert Sayles, testified that a burglar broke into his house and stole a VCR, Playstation, camcorder, television, pistol, ammunition, four cell phones, and jewelry worth $30,000 from within his house.[6] The pistol was located in a glass case, which was also taken. Behind the house, the burglar stripped three cars: a 1964 Chevrolet Impala, 1970 Pontiac Ventura, and a 1968 Mazda. The carburetors, manifolds, distributors, and valve covers were taken off the engines. In addition, air tools, air tanks, and a pressure washer were stolen.

The burglar also stole Sayles's Cadillac, which was recovered approximately eight days after the burglary. Sayles testified he saw A.M.W. driving the Cadillac about thirty minutes after he discovered the burglary, but he did not mention this sighting to the sheriff's deputies investigating the burglary until two weeks later.

*567 Sayles saw A.M.W. at an auto shop down the street and found his Pontiac's auto parts there. Ben Brinson, the owner of the shop, testified that A.M.W. brought the parts into his shop to sell them. The parts included valve covers, intakes, distributors, and carburetors. Brinson knew A.M.W. because A.M.W. periodically worked at the shop.

Sayles found two IDs, including one belonging to A.M.W., at his house. At trial, he claimed he found both in a wallet in his bedroom. Both deputies testified that, when Sayles turned in the IDs, he said he found A.M.W.'s ID near one of the cars and found the other ID in his bedroom. The State rested, and the court denied A.M.W.'s motions to dismiss.

A.M.W. testified his IDs had been lost or stolen several times, and he lost the ID in evidence around the time the burglary occurred. He denied working for Brinson, had never been near Sayles's home, and was a mechanic. A.M.W. brought the car parts into Brinson's shop so that he could put them on his antique 1987 Monte Carlo. However, his car had been impounded. A.M.W. first claimed his car was impounded after he bought the parts. He changed his mind; it was impounded before he bought the parts. A.M.W. changed his mind again; his car was impounded while he was buying the parts, so he had to walk with the parts to the auto shop. He kept the parts because, though he did not have enough money to get his car out of impound, he planned to buy another. A.M.W. changed his mind once more; he bought the parts a couple of days before the car was impounded.

The court denied A.M.W.'s renewed motions to dismiss and ruled:

There are four essential facts ... that point to the defendant's guilt. . . . And that is that the items ... the burglar. . . was a mechanic, because that person had enough mechanical skill to disassemble an engine.
* * *
Then we have the identification cards found on the scene. And it doesn't really matter to me whether they're found inside or outside.
Then there's the issue of the victim's testimony that he saw the defendant driving his Cadillac 30 minutes after the burglary. Well, that would be pretty dispositive, but I . . . have an issue with why ... it took him 14 days to tell somebody that.
... I don't know what's up with that, so I'm kind of putting that aside. The other parts were in the possession of the defendant.
. . . Brinson, who appears to be about as... uninterested [sic] a party as there is in this ... he was pretty straightforward. . . . And he didn't say anything about the defendant having brought those parts to him for the purpose of putting on an automobile.
. . . Brinson testified that the defendant said that he was trying to sell those parts. That's inconsistent with the defendant's testimony.
And ... the defendant's testimony—it really is incredulous [sic]—is that when he realized that his car had been impounded and he had those parts, he was planning on buying another car and using those parts on it. I guess that meant he was going to ... look for a car that needed exactly those parts.
I mean that doesn't make a bit of sense to me. . . .
And I do find that the defendant committed the offenses.

The court found A.M.W. guilty of the lesser-included offense of third-degree grand theft because the State did not establish *568 that the stolen property's value exceeded $20,000. The court expressly disbelieved the explanation that someone planted A.M.W.'s ID at the scene.

The purpose of a motion for judgment of acquittal, termed in this context as a motion to dismiss, is to test the legal sufficiency of the State's evidence. State v. Lalor, 842 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) (citing Donovan v. State, 821 So.2d 1099, 1100 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)). The defendant moving for judgment of acquittal admits all facts and evidence adduced at trial, and the court views all reasonable inferences from the evidence in favor of the State. Id. (citing Donovan, 821 So.2d at 1100). We note that, where the evidence is entirely circumstantial, no matter how strongly it might suggest guilt, a conviction may not be upheld unless the evidence is inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence. E.T.R v. State, 873 So.2d 571, 572 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). The State need not rebut every variation of events that could be inferred from the evidence, but must introduce competent evidence inconsistent with the defendant's theory of events. Haugabrook v. State, 827 So.2d 1065, 1068 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). Once the State introduces competent evidence inconsistent with the defendant's theory, the court must review that evidence in a light most favorable to the State to determine the presence of competent evidence from which the jury could infer guilt to the exclusion of all other inferences. Id.; E.T.R., 873 So.2d at 572. If the State meets its burden, it becomes the duty of the trier of fact to determine whether the evidence is sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Haugabrook, 827 So.2d at 1068.

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AMW v. State, 934 So. 2d 564, 2006 WL 1787790 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

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