Nooe v. State

892 So. 2d 1135, 2005 WL 170875
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 7, 2005
Docket5D03-2658
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 892 So. 2d 1135 (Nooe 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
Nooe v. State, 892 So. 2d 1135, 2005 WL 170875 (Fla. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

892 So.2d 1135 (2004)

Franklin W. NOOE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 5D03-2658.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

January 7, 2005.
Rehearing Denied February 16, 2005.

*1137 Michael H. Lambert and Steven J. Guardiano, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Douglas T. Squire, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PLEUS, J.

The defendant appeals from his conviction for grand theft of over $100,000, a first degree felony, and his sentence of 35 months imprisonment followed by 25 years probation.

The charge arose out of financial irregularities which occurred at the Rape Crisis Center of Volusia County, Inc., (Center) while the defendant served as its executive director. The defendant raises two primary issues on appeal, the first relating to the denial of his motions for judgment of acquittal. The second asserts he is entitled to a new trial because of the prejudicial admission of evidence and improper closing argument by the prosecutor. We conclude this appeal presents but one meritorious issue. Did the State prove a grand theft felony of the first degree, or does the evidence establish only a grand theft felony of the second degree?

The defendant was charged by amended information with one count of grand theft over $100,000, a first degree felony, with *1138 the charging document specifically alleging:

COUNT I: IN THAT FRANKLIN W. NOOE, from on or about January 1, 1998, through and including August 31, 2001, in the County of VOLUSIA and State of Florida, did knowingly obtain or use, or endeavor to obtain or use cash or U.S. currency of a value of $100,000.00 or more, which was the property of the FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH and/or THE RAPE CRISIS CENTER OF VOLUSIA COUNTY, INC., or any other person not the defendant(s), with the intent to permanently or temporarily deprive the FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH and/or THE RAPE CRISIS CENTER OF VOLUSIA COUNTY, INC., or any other person not the defendant(s) of the property or benefit therefrom or to appropriate the property to the use of FRANKLIN W. NOOE or to the use of any person not entitled thereto, contrary to Florida Statute 812.014(1) and (2)(a). (1 DEG FEL)

The defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal because the State failed to prove that: (1) he was involved in any theft, or (2) if there was a theft, that it amounted to over $100,000. The defendant maintains that all the evidence showed was that the Center may have been mismanaged during his tenure as executive director but not that criminal conduct had occurred.

The standard of review applicable to denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal was set out in Bufford v. State, 844 So.2d 812, 813 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003):

A motion for judgment of acquittal is designed to challenge the legal sufficiency of the evidence. If the State presents competent evidence to establish each element of the crime, a motion for judgment of acquittal should be denied. State v. Williams, 742 So.2d 509, 510 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). The court should not grant a motion for judgment of acquittal unless the evidence, when viewed in light most favorable to the State, fails to establish a prima facie case of guilt. Dupree v. State, 705 So.2d 90, 93 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). In moving for a judgment of acquittal, a defendant admits not only the facts stated in the evidence, but also every reasonable conclusion favorable to the State that the fact-finder might fairly infer from the evidence. Lynch v. State, 293 So.2d 44, 45 (Fla.1974). It is the trial judge's task to review the evidence to determine the presence or absence of competent evidence from which a jury could infer guilt to the exclusion of all other inferences. State v. Law, 559 So.2d 187, 189 (Fla.1989). We review the record de novo to determine whether sufficient evidence supports the verdict. Williams v. State, 742 So.2d at 511.

(Emphasis in original).

Before addressing the evidence, analysis of the omnibus theft statute, section 812.014, Florida Statutes, is necessary. This statute includes a variety of offenses related to unlawful appropriation of property, including larceny, obtaining by false pretenses and misappropriation. Crawford v. State, 453 So.2d 1139 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). See also Thomas v. State, 584 So.2d 1022 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). In particular, the theft statute provides:

A person commits theft if he or she knowingly obtains or uses, or endeavors to obtain or to use, the property of another with intent to, either temporarily or permanently: (a) Deprive the other person of a right to the property or a benefit from the property.

*1139 § 812.014(1)(a), Fla. Stat. In defining "obtains or uses," the theft chapter provides in pertinent part:

"Obtains or uses" means any manner of:
....
[1] [c]onduct previously known as stealing; larceny; purloining; abstracting; embezzlement, misapplication; misappropriation; conversion; or obtaining money or property by false pretenses, fraud, or deception....

§ 812.012(2)(d)1, Fla. Stat. (emphasis added).

In certain types of thefts, such as larceny or false pretenses, criminal intent must be formed at the time of the original taking. State v. Siegel, 778 So.2d 426 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001) and Szilagyi v. State, 564 So.2d 644 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990), hold that when the crime is larceny, the State must prove that the defendant knowingly obtained or endeavored to obtain the property of another, with intent to deprive the owner of property, and the State must prove that the felonious intent existed at the time of the taking. In considering this prosecution under section 812.014, this Court considers whether the evidence presented by the State was legally sufficient to establish any of the traditional common law offenses embraced within the statutory definition of theft. Crawford, 453 So.2d at 1141.

The defendant initially argues that no competent evidence of a theft from Florida's Department of Health (Department) or the Center was presented. The defendant points out that the Department's representative, Nancy Linehan, had no independent knowledge that the defendant unlawfully took sums from the Department during the period charged in the amended information. Linehan, however, testified that the Department disbursed $70,125.65 during the time period alleged in the information to the Center based on invoices submitted by the Center through the defendant, its executive director, invoices which reflected the monies were being used for rape education programs but which other evidence, including the defendant's own admission made during an investigation, established had been falsified. The defendant's claim on appeal that his "admission or confession" was insufficient to support his conviction because corpus delicti was not established is without merit. The State introduced the actual invoices labeled as "falsified" as well as the testimony of Michele Jones, the assistant director of the Center during the defendant's tenure. Jones testified that the defendant had knowingly signed and submitted fraudulent invoices to the Department for rape education programs which had never been conducted. The defendant thus obtained $70,125.65 from the State, Department of Health, by false pretenses, fraud or deception.

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Related

Izquierdo v. State
177 So. 3d 1018 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2015)
Isenhour v. State
952 So. 2d 1216 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)
Nooe v. State
31 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 269 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
892 So. 2d 1135, 2005 WL 170875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nooe-v-state-fladistctapp-2005.