Schultz v. State

109 So. 3d 320, 2013 WL 1136564, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 4481
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Schultz v. State. Read the opinion of the Court — 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 1538
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided March 20, 2013·No. No. 2D11-5639·Published

Opinion

CASANUEVA, Judge.

Michael Schultz appeals his judgments and sentences for burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and grand theft. We agree with Mr. Schultz that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal as to both charges because the only evidence of his guilt was circumstantial and the evidence was not inconsistent with Mr. Schultz’s reasonable hypothesis of innocence. See State v. Law, 559 So.2d 187, 188 (Fla.1989) (“A motion for judgment of acquittal should be granted in a circumstantial evidence case if the state fails to present evidence from which the jury can exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt.”). We therefore reverse.

Evidence Presented at Trial

The victim of both offenses, Meon Thomas, testified at trial that on January 20, 2009, she returned to her house sometime around 9 a.m. because she had forgotten her lunch. There was a strange white car parked in her driveway. Ms. Thomas pulled in behind the white car, got out of her car, and saw a black hand slam shut a door to her house. This door is located under the carport. She could not tell if the hand belonged to a man, a woman, or a child. Ms. Thomas also saw her microwave fall to the ground.

A man got out of the passenger seat of the white car and asked her to move her car, and he then got in the driver’s seat. Ms. Thomas ran to her neighbor’s house and called 911, and she saw the white car drive across her grass as it left the area. An officer responding to the burglary call saw the white car driving through a ditch as it was leaving the area, and the officer eventually stopped the car. The car was being driven by Mr. Schultz’s cousin, and it belonged to Mr. Schultz’s girlfriend.

Detective Jose Raya testified that after arriving at the victim’s residence, he decided to drive around surrounding neighborhoods. About three and a half blocks away from the burglary, he noticed Mr. Schultz in front of a residence talking on his cell phone. As soon as Mr. Schultz saw Detective Raya’s unmarked police car, he turned away from the car and concealed his face. The detective thought this was suspicious so he parked his car in a field and watched Mr. Schultz. Mr. Schultz walked up to a trailer, climbed the steps to the front door, and knocked on the door.

Realizing that Mr. Schultz did not live at the residence, Detective Raya drove from the field to the driveway of the residence and asked Mr. Schultz to talk to him in front of his car. Mr. Schultz was talking to Dawn Wiley, who had answered the door. Mr. Schultz claimed that Ms. Wiley was his girlfriend. Detective Raya asked Mr. Schultz to come to his car three times before Mr. Schultz complied. The detective testified that when Mr. Schultz turned away from Ms. Wiley, she made a motion with her hand, indicating that she did not know him. Ms. Wiley appeared frightened.

Mr. Schultz said that this was his girlfriend’s home and that he was just visiting his girlfriend. Based on Mr. Schultz’s physical condition, it was obvious that he had been running. Ms. Wiley told the detective that she was not Mr. Schultz’s girlfriend. Ms. Wiley testified that when Mr. Schultz knocked on the front door, he said that he was looking for a guy named Chris who did tattoos. She had never seen Mr. Schultz before that day.

Detective Raya testified that he was not sure what time he saw Mr. Schultz at Ms. [322]*322Wiley’s residence, but it was before 11 a.m. Dawn Wiley also testified that she was not sure what time Mr. Schultz knocked on the front door and that it was somewhere around 10 or 11 a.m. Detective Raya testified that about an hour after Mr. Schultz was arrested, he received a call to go back to Ms. Wiley’s residence because she had found a jewelry box in her trash can. The trash can was next to the steps that led to Ms. Wiley’s front door, where Mr. Schultz had been standing. Detective Raya took the lid off the trash can, and the jewelry box was under a bag of trash.1 Although the area had been searched when Mr. Schultz was arrested, Detective Raya testified that he did not see anyone go through the trash can. Latent fingerprints were found inside the victim’s house, but none of the prints belonged to Mr. Schultz.

After being arrested, Mr. Schultz told police that he walked his daughter to school that morning and left his car at home. His cousin called him and told him that he and another man had borrowed the car. Mr. Schultz said he did not know what the two men did with the car. Mr. Schultz further stated that he knew Ms. Wiley from seeing her in a store and that he went to her house that morning to ask her for a light for his cigarette. Mr. Schultz denied knowing anything about the burglary or the jewelry box in the trash can.

At trial, Mr. Schultz testified that he walked his daughter to school, bought cigarettes from a Citgo, and then looked for an acquaintance named Chris who does tattoos. Mr. Schultz decided to knock on a trailer door to ask if anyone knew where Chris lived. However, Mr. Schultz saw Ms. Wiley open her door and asked if she knew Chris. He denied knocking on her door and denied that the detective had to ask him more than one time to walk to the police car.

Law on Circumstantial Evidence

“Where the only proof of guilt is circumstantial, no matter how strongly the evidence may suggest guilt, a conviction cannot be sustained unless the evidence is inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence.” Law, 559 So.2d at 188.

The circumstantial evidence must establish to a reasonable certainty ‘that the accused and no one else committed the offense charged. It is not sufficient that the facts create a strong probability of, and be consistent -with, guilt. They must be inconsistent with innocence.’ ” Lindsey v. State, 14 So.3d 211, 215 (Fla.2009) (quoting Frank v. State, 121 Fla. 53, 163 So. 223, 223 (1935)). “While the state does not have to rebut every possible event variation that might be inferred from the evidence, it has to produce evidence that contradicts the defendant’s theory.” Graham v. State, 56 So.3d 97, 101 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011) (citing Haugabrook v. State, 827 So.2d 1065, 1068 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)). We review the denial of Mr. Schultz’s motion for judgment of acquittal de novo, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the State. See Gizaw v. State, 71 So.3d 214, 217 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011).

The facts in the present case are similar to those in Bronson v. State, 926 So.2d 480, 481 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006), where the victims’ house was burglarized sometime before 9:30 a.m. and a neighbor told police that he saw an older model white pickup truck in front of the victims’ home between 8:30 and 9 a.m. that morning, when the victims were not home. Police issued a BOLO describing the pickup truck and later that same morning, an older model white pickup truck was stopped about a mile and a half to two miles away from the victims’ [323]*323home. Id. at 482. The appellant’s father was the driver of the truck, and the appellant was the passenger. The tires on the truck had a distinctive tread that matched the tire tracks left at the victims’ house. The truck contained some of the victims’ property, but the neighbor could not identify either man as the person he had seen at the home.

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Schultz v. State, 109 So. 3d 320, 2013 WL 1136564, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 4481 (Fla. Ct. App. 2013).

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Related

Bronson v. State
926 So. 2d 480 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)
Lindsey v. State
14 So. 3d 211 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2009)
Garcia v. State
899 So. 2d 447 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
Remor v. State
991 So. 2d 957 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
Haugabrook v. State
827 So. 2d 1065 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2002)
State v. Law
559 So. 2d 187 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1989)
Gizaw v. State
71 So. 3d 214 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)
Frank v. State
163 So. 223 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1935)
Graham v. State
56 So. 3d 97 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)