Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Dalpathbhai N. PATEL, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1984-07-26
Citations: 453 So. 2d 218
Docket Number: No. 83-626
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Dalpathbhai N. PATEL, Appellee.
Judges: COBB, C.J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 453
Pages: 218–220

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Dalpathbhai N. PATEL, Appellee.
No. 83-626.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
July 26, 1984.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Sean Daly, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellant.
J.F. Johnson, Jr., Bushnell, for appellee.

Opinion:
DAUKSCH, Judge.
This is an appeal from an order under Rule 3.190(c)(4) Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, dismissing a criminal charge of manslaughter. The state alleges appellee drove his car in a culpably negligent fashion and caused the death of a child who had crossed the roadway after having been dropped off by a school bus.
An order dismissing an information pursuant to a (c)(4) motion is similar to a summary judgment in a civil case. It should be granted sparingly and only when no factual basis exists which could establish a prima facie case of guilt. It is not a substitute for a directed judgment of acquittal at trial nor is it a test of the weight to be given to witness testimony or other evidence. Here there was evidence in the form of deposition testimony and the sworn motion and traverse which indicates ap-pellee was travelling a busy highway, S.R. 50, behind a truck which was behind a school bus; that the bus stopped, flashed its caution lights and displayed its stop sign; that appellee could or did see the bus, passed it notwithstanding the stop indicator, and struck the child. There are other facts in the record regarding distances, speeds and times which all should go to a trier of fact to determine whether appellee is guilty of the crime charged, or some lesser included offense, but all the facts in the record do require a trial. See State v. Upton, 392 So.2d 1013 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981).
REVERSED and REMANDED.
COBB, C.J., concurs.
SHARP, J., concurs in part, dissents in part with opinion.
. We note the motion was not sworn to by the defendant, but the state did not object to this defect. See State v. Mayle, 406 So.2d 108 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981).