Travon Wilds v. State of Florida

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: November 12, 2025
• Docket: 3D2024-0205
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed November 12, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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No. 3D24-0205 Lower Tribunal No. F20-16097B ________________

Travon Wilds, Appellant,

vs.

State of Florida, Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Teresa Mary Pooler, Judge.

Eugene F. Zenobi, Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Third Region, and Kristen Kawass, Assistant Regional Counsel, for appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Katryna Santa Cruz, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before SCALES, C.J., and MILLER and BOKOR, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Talley v. State, 260 So. 3d 562, 572 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019)

(explaining that fundamental error occurs in closing argument where the

improper comment “affected the validity of [the defendant’s] trial such that,

but for the comment, the jury could not have reached the verdict it did”);

Lammons v. State, 246 So. 3d 524, 527 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018) (concluding that

the prosecutor’s improper remark during closing argument did not contribute

to the jury’s verdict where the defendant was “charged with, and the state

argued that he should be convicted of, second-degree murder, but the jury

came back with the lesser-included offense of manslaughter”); Jones v.

State, 666 So. 2d 995, 998 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996) (“Because the evidence of

Jones’ guilt was compelling and overwhelming, we hold that the prosecutor’s

comments did not so impair the fairness of the trial as to constitute

fundamental error.”).