Florida District Courts of Appeal, 1988

Balthazar v. State

Balthazar v. State
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided November 23, 1988 · Glickstein, Stone, Walden
533 So. 2d 955; 13 Fla. L. Weekly 2582; 1988 Fla. App. LEXIS 5134; 1988 WL 123790 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

Balthazar v. State

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

We affirm defendant’s conviction and apply the preponderance of the evidence standard of proof for evaluating the voluntariness of the defendant’s confession.

The preponderance of the evidence standard has been generally applied in Florida cases where the voluntariness of a defendant’s confession is at issue. See McDole v. State, 283 So.2d 553 (Fla. 1973). We apply it here where the defendant is alleged to have a limited understanding of English. We agree with the state’s assertion that although its burden in proving voluntariness is a heavy one in such circumstances, the standard of proof does not change from a preponderance of the evidence standard to a clear and convincing one. See DeCo-ningh v. State, 433 So.2d 501, 503 (Fla. 1983); Rodriguez v. State, 287 So.2d 395, 396-97 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973).

GLICKSTEIN, WALDEN and STONE, JJ., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.