Lorena Alfaro v. the State of Florida

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: February 19, 2025
• Docket: 3D2023-0016
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed February 19, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D23-16 Lower Tribunal No. F17-16513 ________________

Lorena Alfaro, Appellant,

vs.

The State of Florida, Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Laura Anne Stuzin, Judge.

Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Deborah Prager, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Linda Katz, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before EMAS, LOBREE and GOODEN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Affirmed. See State v. DiGuilio, 491 So. 2d 1129, 1135 (Fla. 1986) (“Application of the [harmless error] test requires an examination of the entire

record by the appellate court including a close examination of the permissible

evidence on which the jury could have legitimately relied, and in addition an

even closer examination of the impermissible evidence which might have

possibly influenced the jury verdict.”); Potter v. State, 304 So. 3d 1270, 1277

n.4 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020) (“[A] reviewing court applying the harmless error test

can consider the overwhelming nature of the State’s evidence where a

defendant’s guilt is established by evidence unrelated to the claimed error.”);

Johnson v. State, No. 3D23-2183, 2025 WL 15398, at *1 (Fla. 3d DCA Jan.

2, 2025) (“Fundamental error is defined as the type of error which reaches

down into the validity of the trial itself to the extent that a verdict of guilty

could not have been obtained without the assistance of the alleged error. . .

. [It] should be applied only in the rare cases where a jurisdictional error

appears or where the interests of justice present a compelling demand for its

application.” (cleaned up) (first quoting Scott v. State, 218 So. 3d 476, 478

(Fla. 3d DCA 2017); then quoting Ray v. State, 403 So. 2d 956, 960 (Fla.

1981))).