Haywood v. State
Haywood v. State
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a conviction of robbery of a convenience store. Appellant raises two questions, one of which warrants discussion; namely, the sufficiency of the proof of appellant’s identity as the robbery by fingerprints isolated on a bottle in the store.
A sensible test for acquittal is recited in Sorey v. State, 419 So.2d 810, 812 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982):
Where the sole evidence linking a defendant to the crime is fingerprints found in a place or on a thing accessible to the general public and there is no other evidence to show that the prints were made at the time of the crime, see, e.g., Williams v. State, 247 So.2d 425 (Fla. 1971), courts must conclude that a defendant is entitled to a judgment of acquittal. (Emphasis in original).
The second prong of the foregoing test was not met in this case because there was evidence to show that the prints were made at the time of the crime. The victimized
The judgment of conviction is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.