Taylor v. State

612 So. 2d 626, 1993 WL 2979
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 11, 1993
Docket91-3962
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 612 So. 2d 626 (Taylor 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
Taylor v. State, 612 So. 2d 626, 1993 WL 2979 (Fla. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

612 So.2d 626 (1993)

Marvin TAYLOR, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 91-3962.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

January 11, 1993.
Rehearing Denied February 12, 1993.

*627 James R. Thies, Sr., Orange Park, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Carolyn J. Mosley, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

SMITH, Judge.

Appellant appeals his conviction for sale or delivery of cocaine. We write only to address appellant's contention that the trial court erred in denying his motion for disclosure by the state of information he needed to establish a due process violation involving payment of contingent fees to a confidential informant. We affirm.

This case involves two controlled drug buys by a confidential informant, Gerald Jefferson, from appellant. In the first, which occurred June 7, 1991, Jefferson was provided with an undercover vehicle in which a video camera was installed. He and the vehicle were searched for money, drugs and anything else, before and after the controlled buy. Jefferson wore a body bug and was given $60 in cash. Detective Jett, of the Clay County Sheriff's Office, monitored the transaction through a listening device. Jett heard Jefferson ask for "60," and a voice, later identified as Taylor's respond, "60?" to which Jefferson said, "Yeah, 60," which is street slang for "$60 worth of crack cocaine." Part of the incident was captured on videotape. After the drug transaction was completed, Jefferson met Jett at a predetermined location and gave him three rocks of cocaine. The two reviewed the videotape and Jefferson identified Taylor as a participant in the transaction.[1] In the second controlled buy on June 21, 1991, Jefferson was given $40, and when he returned, Jett retrieved two rocks of crack cocaine from him. Jefferson identified Taylor as participating in the drug deal. The videotape of the first transaction shows appellant, the videotape of the second does not. Later, appellant was arrested and charged with two counts of unlawful sale or delivery of cocaine after undercover operations were over.

Appellant filed a motion for production of favorable evidence seeking all records of the Clay County Sheriff's Office regarding drug transactions made by Gerald Jefferson in 1991 and his criminal history. The state resisted, taking the position that it did not have to supply this information. Taylor filed a motion to compel discovery and also a motion to issue a subpoena duces tecum, seeking the same material.

The motion to compel discovery recites that depositions of Jefferson were taken in which Jefferson testified that he was paid as much as $20 per drug transaction by the Clay County Sheriff's Office for which he would have to sign a yellow sheet of paper saying he received the money. According to the motion, Jefferson testified that the most he received on any one occasion was $250, and that he didn't know or didn't *628 believe that taxes had been withheld from the monies he received. Jefferson also was said to have testified that he had no idea how many cases he had made for the sheriff's office or the total amount he had been paid for all his drug transactions. Also, it was alleged that at his deposition, Jefferson admitted being a drug user.

In the motion to compel discovery, appellant's stated reason for needing all the 1991 records pertaining to Jefferson's drug buys was that Jefferson was "a convicted felon, a confirmed drug user, and was paid a large sum of money to make drug deals for the Clay County Sheriff's Office." The motion concluded: "All information that deals with this witness's credibility and which contradicts his testimony will have a direct impact upon the jury."

At the hearing on the motions, counsel for appellant noted a conflict between Jefferson's deposition testimony and the deposition testimony of Detective Jett, regarding the two transactions and how many rocks of crack cocaine were purchased in each one. The court inquired whether that was an issue of credibility for the jury to resolve, to which counsel responded: "Sure it is." Nevertheless, counsel argued that the information requested would clear up the discrepancies between Jefferson's and Jett's deposition testimony, and that these records would provide the best evidence of what amount of cocaine was purchased for what amount of money on what date. The state responded that appellant was essentially going on a fishing expedition, and had not established the materiality of the requested information or that it would be favorable to appellant or negate his guilt. The trial court ordered disclosure of Jefferson's criminal record, but refused to order disclosure of all records of Jefferson's drug transactions conducted in 1991.

At trial, with respect to Jefferson's employment as a confidential informant, Jett and Jefferson testified that Jefferson was working for money. Jefferson said he was paid $20 for each buy, and Jett concurred, although Jett added that Jefferson was paid $20 or an average of $20 for each purchase of crack cocaine. Jefferson usually made more than one purchase a day and sometimes as many as ten a day. The most he ever made in one day was approximately $200 to $250, but that did not happen often. Jefferson was also promised payment for court appearances and depositions. Jefferson testified that he expected to be paid for testifying at appellant's trial, but he didn't know the amount, although he was sure that he would be "treated right." Jett estimated that Jefferson had participated in approximately forty to sixty cases. On cross-examination, Jett elaborated further that when Jefferson began working for him and financial arrangements were discussed, Jefferson was told he would be paid depending on how big the case was and how involved Jefferson wanted to get.

Jefferson was cross-examined thoroughly regarding the discrepancies between his deposition and trial testimony. Jefferson admitted that his trial testimony was different than his deposition testimony. However, he explained that he was confused concerning the various buys mentioned in his deposition, and that before his trial testimony, he had reviewed the videos and the report and was able to be more certain regarding the two transactions. The jury convicted appellant of selling cocaine on June 7, 1991, but found him not guilty of sale or delivery on June 21.

Appellant filed a motion for new trial contending, among other things, that the verdict was contrary to the law and the weight of the evidence because the state's primary witness, Jefferson, gave perjured testimony and was paid for his testimony contrary to State v. Hunter, 586 So.2d 319 (Fla. 1991),[2] and State v. Glosson, 462 So.2d 1082 (Fla. 1985). Appellant argued that the court erred in refusing to order disclosure of the amount of money paid to Jefferson. The trial court denied the motion for new trial. On appeal, appellant contends these *629 rulings by the trial court were error. Appellant's arguments fail for several reasons.

First, appellant appears to be under the erroneous impression that the action of the state in paying a confidential informant for making drug cases and paying him to testify in a subsequent court proceeding is contrary to the holding of State v. Glosson. In that case the court did not outlaw all contingent fee arrangements, but merely held that the payment of contingent fees to an informant based upon the amount of civil forfeitures resulting from criminal investigations violated due process protections.

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Related

Black v. State
41 So. 3d 423 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
State v. McKinney
765 So. 2d 137 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2000)
Taylor v. State
634 So. 2d 1075 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
612 So. 2d 626, 1993 WL 2979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-state-fladistctapp-1993.