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Criminal Law

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CASES

By Jeffrey Ivashuk

Criminal law -- Argument -- Prosecutor improperly argued facts not in evidence during closing where prosecutor attempted to explain why victims, who identified defendant from photo lineup, had not seen a tattoo on defendant's arms by arguing that defendant obtained a tattoo since the identification -- Because there was no evidence as to when defendant obtained his tattoos and no evidence linking the sharpness and clarity of a tattoo to its age, prosecutor's argument was improperReported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D734a Criminal law -- Evidence -- Witness testimony -- Illegal stop -- Evidence derived from live witness who turned physical evidence over to police was sufficiently attenuated from illegal stop of vehicle in which defendant was a passenger, so that trial court did not err by permitting jury to see and hear it -- Witness's testimony was sufficiently attenuated from illegal stop to be admissible where record reflects that witness testified willingly at trial, that illegal stop of vehicle played no role in securing witness's cooperation, and witness first spoke to police about 24 hours after illegal search and he testified at trial two years later -- A short time span between illegal stop and witness's statement does not preclude a finding of attenuation where witness was not the one stopped and was not coerced or influenced by police misconduct -- Witness's consent to search of his apartment was intervening circumstance that broke chain of events that began with the stop, so that items taken from apartment were sufficiently attenuated from illegal stop for state to offer them in evidence at trial -- Trial court should have suppressed evidence pertaining to vehicle, which police located before they found witness, closer in time to illegal search; however, evidence was harmless beyond reasonable doubtReported at 33 Fla...continue to full post

Full post as published by JAABlog on March 13, 2008 (boomark / email).