Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2004

Pantoja v. State

Pantoja v. State
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided October 20, 2004 · Shahood, Warner
885 So. 2d 930; 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 15395; 2004 WL 2347383 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

Pantoja v. State

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

We affirm appellant’s conviction and sentence for first degree premeditated murder. Appellant raises three issues: the sufficiency of the evidence to prove premeditation; the repeated references to gang membership and gang activity; and ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to object to the gang references. The facts of this case show that the murder occurred when appellant, angered by the victim throwing something at his car, gathered the members of his gang to fight the victim. After the victim was chased by the gang members, he was surrounded and beaten. When he was on his knees, appellant pulled out a gun, shot at the victim kneeling in front of him, missed, and then shot again, killing the victim. The first two issues raised in this appeal were not preserved by appropriate objection below. The claim of ineffectiveness of counsel is premature.

Affirmed.

WARNER, SHAHOOD and MAY, JJ., concur.

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