DeLaine v. State

230 So. 2d 168
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 9, 1970
Docket67-358 — 67-363
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 230 So. 2d 168 (DeLaine v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DeLaine v. State, 230 So. 2d 168 (Fla. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

230 So.2d 168 (1970)

William E. DeLAINE, Joseph L. Graier, James C. Hillary, Wilbur L. Hunter, Irving Knight, and Charlie Waters, Appellants,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Nos. 67-358 — 67-363.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.

January 9, 1970.
Rehearing Denied February 6, 1970.

*170 Robert E. Jagger, Public Defender, and Carleton L. Weidemeyer, Asst. Public Defender, Clearwater, for appellants.

Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and William D. Roth, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lakeland, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Appellants named above, defendants below, appeal to this Court from their convictions and sentences to imprisonment.

An indictment was returned into the Pinellas County Circuit Court charging all the said defendants and another, Jesse Brown, who has appealed separately, with the crime of rape. All defendants except Wilbur L. Hunter were adjudged insolvent and the Public Defender was appointed to represent them. Hunter was represented by private counsel. At the end of a 14-day trial all defendants were convicted of rape, with recommendation for mercy, and were forthwith sentenced to imprisonment. This appeal will concern only the defendants herein.

The defendants here submit eight points for consideration in their appeal which will be discussed seriatim.

Point 1. Defendants contend the Court erred in quashing defendants' witness subpoenaes.

Prior to trial the Court denied defendants' motion to subpoena certain prospective witnesses, pursuant to the authority purportedly granted the Public Defender in a Special Act, Ch. 61-2663, Section 5 of which reads inter alia:

"The Public Defender shall be allowed full process of court to summon defendants and witnesses to appear before him at such convenient places and at times as may be designated by the Public Defender, to testify before him concerning the financial ability of any defendant to employ counsel for their own defense or any matter pertaining to the defense of the defendant. * * *" (Emphasis added).

At the time the instant appeal was taken to this Court, the validity of Ch. 61-2663, § 5, was very much in dispute. This 2nd District Court had jurisdiction to determine the question of constitutionality under Art. V, § 4, of the Constitution, F.S. *171 A., because the trial Court, while denying the motion to subpoena, expressly declined to hold Ch. 61-2663, § 5, valid or invalid, and therefore his ruling was not one "directly passing upon the validity of a state statute", which would have vested jurisdiction in the Supreme Court.

However, we preferred not to exercise such prerogative of constitutional determination in light of the fact that we were apprised of a case wending its way to the Supreme Court where the point would be squarely presented. Therefore, we have withheld decision in the instant case for what may have seemed an inordinate lapse of time, awaiting the decisive opinion of the Supreme Court. That Court has now spoken in the case of Miller v. State, 225 So.2d 409, opinion filed July 16, 1969, and has held that "so much of Chapter 61-2663 as permits the defender to summon witnesses to testify before him is violative of Article V, Section 3 of our Constitution".

This disposes of Point 1 adversely to defendants.

Point 2. Defendants contend that the Court erred in allowing several photographs into evidence over objection.

Defendants objected first to admissibility of the photographs because they were not disclosed or produced for them prior to trial in accordance with the Court order. The attorney for Wilbur Hunter admitted he was shown the picture of his client Hunter, and that there were "some others there" and he thought he "looked at them". An investigator for the State Attorney's office testified he showed the pictures in question to counsel for Hunter and to one of the Public Defenders representing the other defendants, who admitted that "Now, he may have shown me these pictures. I can't truthfully deny this." No error appears.

Defendants further objected because no predicate was laid as to the date the photographs were taken. The photographer, a newspaper reporter, admitted he did not know the exact date when he took the pictures. But a member of the St. Petersburg police department testified they were taken on January 12, 1967, at the scene of the crime. No error is demonstrated.

One of the photographs objected to contained the words "The Victim" on the reverse side, and defendants claim that such notation was made by unsworn persons, which rendered the picture inadmissible as hearsay. This raises a serious question.

Defendants rely upon Adams v. State, 1891, 28 Fla. 511, 10 So. 106; 108 A.L.R. 1415; State v. Rombolo, (1916) 89 N.J.L. 565, 99 A. 434, later 91 N.J.L. 560, 103 A. 203; and Anthony v. State, 1942, 30 Ala. App. 425, 7 So.2d 513, in support of their contention.

Adams v. State, supra, involved a map or diagram of the terrain where the crime was committed. It was made by a witness who testified as to the route he and the accused traveled. On the map were two other routes traveled by two other witnesses. The Court said:

"We think a map or diagram of the country in its physical condition at the time can be put in evidence, and any witness, in giving testimony as to localities, can indicate on the map the relative position of things or persons. But for a person who knew nothing of these matters, except what he heard from others, to designate the movement of persons on the map would be testimony of a secondary character, and improper to be admitted."

In State v. Rombolo the Court held that a photograph of the defendant taken while in the reformatory, containing a statement on the reverse side that he was charged with burglary and had violated his parole, was inadmissible, since the evidence was hearsay, coming from an unknown source and not made under oath. This was one of the "rogues gallery" or "mug shot" class *172 of cases, where such photographs convey to the jury the information that the defendant has a police record.

In Anthony v. State, supra, numerous pictures, purported to have been taken at the scene of the crime, were admitted into evidence. The Court held that they were improperly and erroneously admitted for the reason that on the back of each was an explanation of the photo, including: "Sam Anthony Car Parked." The Court said:

"Such endorsements must of necessity have been the mere conclusion of the writer thereof, and each of said endorsements affirmatively appears as the surmise, opinion or conjecture mayhap, suspicion, of the writer of the endorsements, all of which were wholly unauthorized and illegal."

In the case of Cohoon v. State, Fla.App. 1968, 207 So.2d 338, this Court affirmed the lower Court without a written opinion. One of the questions involved was the introduction of a fingerprint card which had on the reverse side the words: "Breaking and Engering (sic)." The trial Judge had instructed that the exhibit consisted only of the front of the card and to ignore the writings on the back.

In Haager v. State, 1922, 83 Fla. 41, 90 So. 812, the Supreme Court held that the use of the word "slayer" by the trial Court in one of its instructions to the jury in referring to a person on trial for homicide, was not reversible error.

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Bluebook (online)
230 So. 2d 168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/delaine-v-state-fladistctapp-1970.