Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2019

Larry Crandall Roberts v. State of Florida

Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided January 31, 2019

262 So. 3d 875 (Southern Reporter, Third Series)

Opinion

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________

No. 1D18-0332

_____________________________

LARRY CRANDALL ROBERTS,

Appellant, v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

_____________________________ On appeal from the Circuit Court for Wakulla County. James O. Shelfer, Judge.

January 31, 2019 PER CURIAM.

Larry Crandall Roberts appeals his judgments and sentences for two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm following a nonjury trial. Roberts’s sole argument on appeal is that the trial court erred in rejecting both his statutory 1 and common law affirmative defenses 2 of citizen’s arrest regarding his use of a shotgun while attempting to detain two unarmed individuals, 3 whom he believed had committed a felony.

A detailed recitation of the facts is unnecessary to our resolution. While we agree with Roberts that he initially had probable cause to effect a citizen’s arrest, the State presented evidence at trial contradicting Roberts’s affirmative defense by showing that he did not act in a reasonable manner when he attempted to detain the two individuals. This factual dispute regarding the affirmative defense was resolved by the trier of fact adversely to Roberts, and the record contains competent substantial evidence supporting his convictions.

AFFIRMED.

EVANDER, LAMBERT, and EISNAUGLE, Associate Judges, 4 concur.

_____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331.

_____________________________

Luke Newman of Luke Newman, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellant. Ashley B. Moody, Attorney General, and Steven E. Woods, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

3 One of the individuals was a minor. 4 Sitting as Associate Judges of the First District Court of Appeal in this case by designation and order of the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

1 See § 810.09(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (2013). 2 In a criminal case, “[a]n affirmative defense does not concern itself with the elements of the offense at all; it concedes them. In effect, an affirmative defense says, ‘Yes, I did it, but I had a good reason.’” State v. Cohen, 568 So. 2d 49, 51−52 (Fla. 1990).

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