Florida District Courts of Appeal, 1984

Harris v. State

Harris v. State
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided April 3, 1984 · Ferguson, Hendry, Schwartz
447 So. 2d 1020; 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 12557 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

Harris v. State

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

We reverse the appellant’s second degree murder conviction for a new trial because of the prosecutor’s totally irrelevant and highly prejudicial cross-examination of the defendant and his girlfriend-witness to the effect that he was a procurer and she, his prostitute.1 Bennett v. State, 316 So.2d 41 (Fla. 1975); Harris v. State, 427 So.2d 234 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Malcolm v. State, 415 So.2d 891 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Glantz v. State, 343 So.2d 88 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977). In the light of the relative closeness of the self-defense claim asserted by the defendant, we cannot find that this clear error was harmless. Wright v. State, 446 So.2d 208 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), and cases cited; compare State v. Murray, 443 So.2d 955 (Fla. 1984).

Reversed.

. In addition, the state attorney did not proffer evidence sufficient even to show that there was any truth to these allegations. See Smith v. State, 414 So.2d 7 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982), and cases cited.

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