Florida District Courts of Appeal, 1981

State ex rel. Slora v. Wessel

State ex rel. Slora v. Wessel
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided August 19, 1981 · Hersey, Hurley, Letts
403 So. 2d 496; 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 20910 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

State ex rel. Slora v. Wessel

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

The petition for writ of prohibition is denied. Motion for rehearing, if any, must be filed by noon, Friday, August 21, 1981.

LETTS, C. J., and HERSEY, J., concur.

Concurring Opinion

HURLEY, Judge,

concurring specially.

I concur with the court’s determination because, in my view, the petitioner has failed to demonstrate that the trial judge is a “material witness,” i. e., that he possesses relevant information “going to some fact affecting the merits of the cause . . . about which no other witness might testify.” Wingate v. Mach, 117 Fla. 104, 157 So. 421, 422 (1934) (emphasis supplied). Rule 8.220(b)(1)(viii), Fla.R.Crim.P., provides a mechanism by which the state may obtain a handwriting exemplar from the defendant. Thus, through the use of expert testimony, there exists an alternate but well-recognized method for establishing the authorship and integrity of the document in question without requiring testimony from the trial judge.

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