Burton v. State
Burton v. State
Opinion of the Court
The appellant was adjudged guilty after a jury trial upon a charge of grand larceny. The information was framed pursuant to § 811.201 Fla.Stat., F.S.A., which includes larceny by making a false representation.
Appellant’s second point urges that he is entitled to a new trial because of unfair and prejudicial cross examination of the defendant by the State. It is clear that upon an election to take the stand in his own defense, a defendant is subject to the wide latitude of cross examination exactly as any other witness is subject to cross examination. Ivey v. State, 132 Fla. 36, 180 So. 368, 369 (1938).
We have carefully read the record of the cross examination of the appellant, and we conclude that appellant’s contention that he was denied a fair trial because the jury was lead to infer facts not in evidence, is not substantiated by the record. In particular, it is urged that a question as to previous insurance claims was susceptible to an inference that the State had evidence of other presumably fraudulent claims. The defendant stated that he was in the used car business and that thefts had frequently occurred in this enterprise. In this state of the record, we cannot say that the evidence elicited was for the purpose of degrading the character of the accused.
Affirmed.
. For a discussion of so-called similar fact evidence which tends to reveal the commission of a collateral crime, see Williams v. State, Fla.1959, 110 So.2d 654; cert. den., 361 U.S. 847, 80 S.Ct. 102, 4 L.Ed.2d 86; Horner v. State, Fla.App.1963, 149 So.2d 863; The Rule of Exclusion of Similar Fact Evidence: England, 46 Harv.L.Rev. 954, and, The Rule of Exclusion of Similar Fact Evidence: America 51 Harv.L.Rev. 988.
070rehearing
On Rehearing
A rehearing having been granted on grounds 1 and 2 of said petition, and the case having been further considered upon the record and briefs and argument of attorneys for the respective parties, it is ordered and adjudged by the court that the opinion of this court filed January 3, 1968 in said cause be and the same is hereby reaffirmed and adhered to on rehearing.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.