Case Name: Michael DELLECHIAIE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-09-04
Citations: 734 So. 2d 423
Docket Number: No. 95-04852
Parties: Michael DELLECHIAIE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: PATTERSON, J„ Concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 734
Pages: 423–426

Head Matter:
Michael DELLECHIAIE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 95-04852.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
Sept. 4, 1998.
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow, and Carol J.Y. Wilson, Assistant Public Defender, Clearwater, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Tonja R. Vickers, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Ap-pellee.

Opinion:
NORTHCUTT, Judge.
Michael Dellechiaie has appealed his conviction for grand theft of a motor vehicle. We conclude that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the conviction, and we reverse.
The vehicle at issue was unique — a maroon 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air that had been reconditioned and fitted with an orange 1963 Corvette 327 engine. The car's owner, Richard Lanoue, displayed it on the fenced lot of "Classy Chassis," Lanoue's antique car dealership in Pasco County. When Lanoue arrived at the lot on the morning of Thursday, October 22, 1992, he found that someone had cut the chain on the gate and had taken the Bel Air. He reported the theft to the Pasco County Sheriffs Office.
The following Monday, October 26, an anonymous telephone caller told Lanoue that he was appalled at what had been done to the car, and suggested that La-noue check out a vanity license plate bearing the name "Tony." Using a caller identification device, Lanoue traced the call to the residence of Anthony Buccellato. A detective went to the Buccellato home, where he observed what he believed to be the distinctive engine that had been installed in the stolen Bel Air. When the detective and Lanoue returned the next day, the engine was gone. But the two found other distinctive parts from the car, including the radiator support. Buccellato was ar rested, and eventually he pleaded guilty to grand theft charges.
Although there was no evidence to link Michael Dellechiaie to Buccellato, the State accused Dellechiaie of participating in the theft of the Bel Air. At trial, the State attempted to prove Dellechiaie's involvement by circumstantial evidence. Reduced to its essentials, the State's case was as follows:
Late in the afternoon of Friday, October 23, the day after the theft was discovered, Dellechiaie and two other men were seen towing the Bel Air behind a pickup truck. They deposited the car in front of the home Dellechiaie shared with his parents in Hernando County. Later that night, Dellechiaie was arrested for stealing the car.
Lanoue testified that on Saturday, October 24, he received a telephone call at his dealership from a man and woman who identified themselves as Dellechiaie and his wife. The woman asked to speak to the owner of the 1955 Chevy. She and Dellechiaie were angry. Dellechiaie had just been released from jail and he sought the return of his tires and wheels, which had been affixed to the Bel Air for towing. Dellechiaie told Lanoue that he had retrieved the Bel Air's body from some woods located not far from the car dealership and the Buccellato property. When Lanoue asked Dellechiaie how he knew the car belonged to him, Dellechiaie replied that he had called car dealerships in the phone book until he came to Lanoue's.
A victim-witness coordinator for the state attorney's office testified that in November 1994 a man identifying himself as Dellechiaie telephoned her and asked to speak to the prosecutor assigned to his case. The coordinator did not make verbatim notes of the conversation, but she recalled that the man "wanted to know why the other person in this case was not charged with the same charges that he was charged with. Because it was a two-man job. And that he did not want to pay the entire restitution by himself. And that he made mention that he had driven the truck."
Finally, the State relied on Delleehiaie's possession of the recently stolen property which, in the absence of a satisfactory explanation, would give rise to an inference that he knew or should have known that the property was stolen. See § 812.022(2), Fla. Stat. (1991).
For its part, the defense contended that on the afternoon of October 23 Dellechiaie and his friend, Joe Slonski, were driving along a dirt road in the woods, when they happened upon the body of the Bel Air. The car was missing a variety of parts, including its engine, transmission, and radiator, and it had no tires or rims. Its body had been damaged, and one of its windows was cracked. The car, or what was left of it, rested near other junk that had been dumped in the area.
A man standing nearby, whom Delle-chiaie and Slonski took to be the owner of the property, told them that they could have the car if they hauled it away. He wrote out a receipt: "October 23, 1992. Mr. Dellechiaie. Spring Hill, Fla. I give 1955 Chey [sic] to tow as junk from my Eden Avenue property to Michael J. Delle-chiaie for no charge." Dellechiaie and Slonski obtained tires from Dellechiaie's home and from that of another friend, Eric Murphy. The men then mounted the tires on the Bel Air and towed it to Dellechiaie's house.
At the close of the State's case, and again at the close of all evidence, Delle-chiaie's trial counsel moved for a judgment of acquittal. He argued, among other things, that the State's circumstantial evidence was insufficient to prove Delle-chiaie's guilt. Both motions were denied, and the jury found Dellechiaie guilty.
Where, as here, the State relies solely on circumstantial evidence to prove a defendant's guilt, the jury may convict only if it finds that the evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Law, 559 So.2d 187, 188-189 (Fla.1989). To pose that question to the jury, the State must meet its threshold burden to present competent evidence that is inconsistent with the defendant's theory of innocence. If the State does not meet that burden, the defendant is entitled to a judgment of acquittal. 559 So.2d at 188-189.
In this case, none of the State's circumstantial evidence contradicted the defense hypothesis of Dellechiaie's innocence. Moreover, the statutory inference that Dellechiaie knew the property was stolen was dispelled by Dellechiaie's explanation of how he came to possess the car. That explanation was not unreasonable, nor was it in any way refuted. To the contrary, other circumstances tended to corroborate it. See Coleman v. State, 466 So.2d 395, 397 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). For this reason, the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain Dellechiaie's conviction.
We reverse Dellechiaie's conviction, and we remand with directions that he be discharged.
PATTERSON, J" Concurs.
GREEN, J., Dissents with opinion.