Case Name: Johnny L. JONES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1985-02-26
Citations: 466 So. 2d 301
Docket Number: No. 81-2176
Parties: Johnny L. JONES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BARK-DULL, HENDRY, HUBBART, NESBITT, BASKIN, DANIEL S. PEARSON and FERGUSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 466
Pages: 301–331

Head Matter:
Johnny L. JONES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 81-2176.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Feb. 26, 1985.
Rehearing Denied April 12, 1985.
Frates, Bienstock & Sheehe and Terry Bienstock, Fletcher Baldwin, Gainesville, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Janet Reno, State Atty. and Ira N. Loewy, Asst. State Atty., for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BARK-DULL, HENDRY, HUBBART, NESBITT, BASKIN, DANIEL S. PEARSON and FERGUSON, JJ.
JORGENSON, J., did not participate.

Opinion:
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.
This is an appeal from a conviction for grand theft rendered after a jury trial. The cause was heard en banc because the proposed but unreleased panel opinion — which is now the appendix to Judge Hubbart's dissent — demonstrated on its face a misapplication of and departure from the rules relating to the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence in criminal prosecutions which we previously announced in Hernandez v. State, 305 So.2d 211 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974), cert. denied, 315 So.2d 192 (Fla.1975), Knight v. State, 392 So.2d 337 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), pet. for review denied, 399 So.2d 1143 (Fla.1981), and Pressley v. State, 395 So.2d 1175 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), pet. for review denied, 407 So.2d 1105 (Fla.1981). See State v. Navarro, 464 So.2d 137 (Fla. 3d DCA, 1985). Applying those principles to the facts as very fairly and completely set forth by Judge Hubbart, we are convinced they are more than sufficient, indeed overwhelmingly so, to justify the trial court's action in submitting the cause for jury determination and the jury's consequent finding of the defendant's guilt. Accord, Lincoln v. State, 459 So.2d 1030 (Fla.1984); Heiney v. State, 447 So.2d 210 (Fla.1984); Rose v. State, 425 So.2d 521 (Fla.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1049, 103 S.Ct. 1496, 75 L.Ed.2d 928 (1983); State v. Allen, 335 So.2d 823 (Fla.1976). Hence, we reject the claim that the defendant is entitled to be discharged.
We do however reverse for a new trial on the authority of Neil v. State, 457 So.2d 481 (Fla.1984), reversing Neil v. State, 433 So.2d 51 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). There is no doubt that the record as to the state's use of its peremptory challenges to excuse black prospective jurors satisfied the Neil prerequisites for inquiry by the trial court into the basis of those challenges, which Jones requested but which was denied by the trial judge. And, notwithstanding the language in Neil concerning its general non-retroactivity, 457 So.2d at 488, it is also clear from the Supreme Court's subsequent reversal for a new trial on the basis of Neil in the identical case of Andrews v. State, 459 So.2d 1018 (Fla.1984), reversing 438 So.2d 480 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), that Neil governs so-called "pipeline" cases such as this one, in which the issue was properly preserved below and which was pending when Neil was decided. City of Miami v. Cornett, 463 So.2d 399 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986); Safford v. State, 463 So.2d 378 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); see also, e.g., Hoberman v. State, 400 So.2d 758 (Fla.1981) (applying Sarmiento holding to pending appeal); Toscano v. State, 393 So.2d 540 (Fla.1980).
There is no merit in the appellant's points II and IV challenging the admissibility of evidence. The other issues concern matters unlikely to affect or to arise at the new trial and therefore do not require treatment here.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
. The fifth district has employed the en banc procedure in similar situations (but without oral argument en banc) in Edge v. State, 455 So.2d 626 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984) and Royal v. State, 452 So.2d 1098 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984).
. The appellate courts of this State have held repeatedly that to sustain conviction in circumstantial evidence cases the inferences reasonably to be drawn from the evidence must not only be consistent with guilt of the accused but inconsistent with every reasonable hypothesis of his innocence. However, in such cases the test to be applied on motion for judgment of acquittal and on review of the denial of such a motion is not simply whether in the opinion of the trial judge or of the appellate court the evidence fails to exclude every reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt, but rather whether the jury must reasonably so conclude.
305 So.2d at 211.
. The proper test on appeal of a denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal is whether the jury as the trier of fact might reasonably conclude that the evidence excluded every reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt. All facts introduced into evidence are admitted by the defendant, and the court must draw every conclusion favorable to the state. The motion should not be granted unless there is no legally sufficient evidence on which to base a verdict of guilt, [citations omitted]
392 So.2d at 338-39.
.Addressing appellant's second point, we conclude that the motion for judgment of acquittal was properly denied. The standard of review for the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal is "not simply whether in the opinion of the trial judge or of the appellate court the evidence fails to exclude every reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt, but rather whether the jury must reasonably so conclude." By the motion, a defendant admits all facts introduced into evidence and the court must draw every inference favorable to the prosecution. The motion should not be granted absent any evidence legally sufficient upon which to base a verdict of guilt, [citations omitted]
395 So.2d at 1177.