Case Name: The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Odes Neal HAMILTON and Raymond Augusta Black, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1970-10-27
Citations: 240 So. 2d 509
Docket Number: No. 70-855
Parties: The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Odes Neal HAMILTON and Raymond Augusta Black, Appellees.
Judges: Before CHARLES CARROLL, BARK-DULL and HENDRY, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 240
Pages: 509–510

Head Matter:
The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Odes Neal HAMILTON and Raymond Augusta Black, Appellees.
No. 70-855.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Oct. 27, 1970.
Richard E. Gerstein, State’s Atty., and Milton Robbins, Asst. State’s Atty., for appellant.
Caidin, Rothenberg, Kogan, Kornblum & Rothenberg and Edward Carhart, Miami, for appellees.
Before CHARLES CARROLL, BARK-DULL and HENDRY, JJ.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal by the state from a pretrial order in a criminal prosecution in the circuit court, as authorized by § 924.07 (8) Fla.Stat., F.S.A.1969. The challenged order granted defendants' motion for severance, opposed by the state, which had elected to try jointly the defendants who were charged by indictment with the crime of murder in the first degree. The defendants, in the presence of each other, had made statements which were self-incriminating and which implicated the other. We find no error in that ruling of the trial court. It represented a matter resting in the discretion of the court (Jackman v. State, Fla.App.1962, 140 So.2d 627; Sylvia v. State, Fla.App.1968, 210 So.2d 286), and in the circumstances presented the order of severance was proper. See Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476.
Affirmed.