Jimenez v. State
Jimenez v. State
Opinion of the Court
Armando Jimenez appeals his convictions and life sentences for armed burglary with assault, armed robbery with a firearm and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. We affirm the convictions and sentences.
The two victims, Blanca D’Armidore and Martin Ricon, testified at trial that, on the morning of the incident, D’Armidore awoke at 6:00 a.m. to feed her dogs. Ri-con, with whom she shared a house, got up to watch television. Ricon testified that Jimenez, whom both victims had met about a month prior, appeared in the house with a gun in hand, yelled at Ricon to throw himself on the floor and demanded money. Ricon lay on the ground and Jimenez shot him in the head. D’Armidore then entered the room and saw Ricon on the floor bleeding and saw Jimenez in the room. Jimenez then instructed her to throw herself on the ground. He shot her in the face and stabbed her with a knife. Both victims survived and identified Jimenez to the police and at trial. The defendant lived in the vicinity of the victims’ home, and neither he nor his son could verify his whereabouts during the hours that the incident occurred. The defendant denied the incident. The jury found Jimenez guilty on all counts and he was sentenced to natural life.
Jimenez’s first point on appeal is that the trial court committed reversible error by soliciting the jurors to ask questions of the witnesses and defendant after each testified. Jimenez does not find fault with the fact that the jurors were allowed to ask questions, but with the fact that the trial court enlisted questions from the jurors after each witness.
Jimenez’s second point on appeal is that the trial court erred in giving Florida Standard Criminal Jury Instruction 2.04(e).
For the above reasons, we affirm the convictions and sentence.
. Jimenez did not object to the procedure for juror questioning at trial and did not object to the questions asked by the jurors at trial.
. Florida Standard Criminal Juiy Instruction 2.04(e) provides:
A statement claimed to have been made by the defendant outside of court has been placed before you. Such a statement should always be considered with caution and be weighed with great care to make certain it was freely and voluntarily made. Therefore, you must determine from the evidence that the defendant's alleged statement was knowingly, voluntarily, and freely made.
In making this determination, you should consider the total circumstances, including but not limited to:
1. Whether, when the defendant made the statement, he had been threatened in order to get him to make it, and
2. Whether anyone had promised him anything in order to get him to make it. If you conclude the defendant’s out-of-court statement was not freely and voluntarily made, you should disregard it.
Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 2.04(e).
. The jury was also instructed that "[t]he defendant in this case has become a witness. You should apply the same rules to consideration of his testimony that you apply to the testimony of other witnesses.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.