Title: State v. Pennington
Citation: 534 So. 2d 393
Docket Number: 71399
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: November 23, 1988

534 So. 2d 393 (1988)
STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
Ralph PENNINGTON, Respondent.
No. 71399.

Supreme Court of Florida.
November 23, 1988.
*394 Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Mardi Levey Cohen, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for petitioner.
Michael J. Wrubel of the Law Offices of Michael J. Wrubel, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for respondent.
OVERTON, Justice.
The State of Florida petitions this Court to review Pennington v. State, 526 So. 2d 87 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987), in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the respondent had not waived his right to contest the trial court's denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal where a codefendant's testimony supplied the essential elements for the state's prima facie case against the respondent during the defense's case. In reversing the conviction, the district court expressly recognized conflict with Adams v. State, 367 So. 2d 635 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. denied, 376 So. 2d 68 (Fla. 1979), and certified the following question as one of great public importance:
Pennington, 526 So. 2d  at 90. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We find that the federal waiver rule is not applicable under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380, answer the question in the affirmative, and approve the district court's decision.
The relevant facts reflect that the respondent and three codefendants were charged with drug offenses and tried jointly. In establishing the charges against the respondent, the detective indicated that their only contact with each other occurred in a supermarket parking lot where a drug transaction took place. He testified that the respondent stepped out of the driver's seat of a car and told the detective, "`It's in the white car ... over there.'" Pennington, 526 So. 2d  at 88. There the detective found another defendant in possession of the contraband. The state presented no other evidence connecting the respondent to the transaction. The trial court denied respondent's motion for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the state's case. During the defense's case, a codefendant, testifying on his own behalf, stated on cross-examination that he had conversations with respondent connecting the respondent to the drug deal. The codefendant's testimony sufficiently established the necessary elements of the offense. The jury convicted the respondent as charged.
The district court, relying on Richardson v. State, 488 So. 2d 661 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), and Wagner v. State, 421 So. 2d 826 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), concluded that the state could not rely upon this evidence to supply the missing link necessary to establish the state's prima facie case. In its opinion, the court concluded that Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380(b) mandated its decision, but expressly recognized conflict with the Second District's decision in Adams.
The state argues that we should adopt the waiver rule consistent with the Second District's view in Adams and a majority of the federal courts. Under this view, a defendant, on appeal, is not allowed to challenge the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal made at the close of the prosecution's case if any deficiency in the government's evidence is subsequently cured during the defense's case. In United *395 States v. White, 611 F.2d 531 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 992, 100 S. Ct. 2978, 64 L. Ed. 2d 849 (1980), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals described the waiver rule's application as follows:
Id. at 536 (citations omitted). Following this reasoning, the Second District Court, in Adams, concluded:
367 So. 2d  at 637 (footnote omitted).
Most federal courts apply this waiver rule. See United States v. Foster, 783 F.2d 1082 (D.C. Cir.1986); United States v. Contreras, 667 F.2d 976 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 849, 103 S. Ct. 109, 74 L. Ed. 2d 97 (1982); United States v. Perry, 638 F.2d 862 (5th Cir.1981); Benchwick v. United States, 297 F.2d 330 (9th Cir.1961). Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(a) governs motions for judgment of acquittal and states:
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380 governs motions for judgment of acquittal and states, in relevant part:
(Emphasis added.) The Florida rule expressly states that a defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of the *396 state's case is not waived by the defendant's subsequent introduction of evidence if properly preserved by a motion at the close of all evidence. Further, the committee notes reflect that "a minority felt that the language should be changed so that a defendant would waive an erroneous denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal by introducing evidence." Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.660 committee notes (1967).[*] It is clear that our rule was written to prevent application of the federal waiver rule. Before we can accept the state's position, we must first amend Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380.
Further, we note that a majority of the jurisdictions utilizing the waiver rule would not apply it under these facts because the respondent in this case did not choose to introduce the unproven elements of the offense in his defense. Here, a codefendant presented the missing-link evidence during that defendant's case. See United States v. Belt, 574 F.2d 1234 (5th Cir.1978); United States v. Lopez, 576 F.2d 840 (10th Cir.1978); United States v. Arias-Diaz, 497 F.2d 165 (5th Cir.1974), cert. denied sub nom. Curbelo-Talvara v. United States, 420 U.S. 1003, 95 S. Ct. 1445, 43 L. Ed. 2d 761 (1975); Franklin v. United States, 330 F.2d 205 (D.C. Cir.1963); Cephus v. United States, 324 F.2d 893 (D.C. Cir.1963).
Accordingly, we answer the certified question in the affirmative, approve the Fourth District's decision, and disapprove all other conflicting decisions, including Adams; Bullard v. State, 151 So. 2d 343 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 162 So. 2d 904, (Fla. 1963), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 992, 84 S. Ct. 1915, 12 L. Ed. 2d 1044 (1964); Kozakoff v. State, 104 So. 2d 59 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958); and Roberts v. State, 154 Fla. 36, 16 So. 2d 435 (1944).
It is so ordered.
McDONALD, SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.
EHRLICH, C.J., concurs in result only with an opinion.
EHRLICH, Chief Justice, concurring in result only.
I agree with the result reached by the majority, that Pennington's conviction should be reversed and this cause remanded to the trial court to enter a judgment of acquittal. However, I do not believe we should answer the question certified by the district court because it is inapposite to the facts of this case. The certified question pertains to evidence presented in the defendant's own case. In the case at bar, however, the crucial evidence was presented not by Pennington, but by a codefendant. Therefore, we should not reach the question of whether the waiver doctrine generally applies in Florida, and we should decline to answer the question certified. As the majority notes, even most courts that apply the waiver doctrine would decline to do so where the unproven elements of the state's case are supplied in a codefendant's case. At 396.
We, of course, have the authority to rephrase the question to make it conform to the facts and to answer it as rephrased. Therefore, I would rephrase the question presented in this case as follows: Where the state has failed to make a prima facie case and the defendant moves for a judgment of acquittal which is denied, and thereafter, during a codefendant's case, evidence is presented that supplies essential elements of the state's case, may that evidence be used to support denial of defendant's renewed motion for judgment of acquittal made at the conclusion of all evidence. I believe that question must be answered in the negative. Whether or not the waiver doctrine generally applies in Florida, it certainly does not apply where the evidence essential to the state's case is supplied by a codefendant. As the Fifth Circuit Court stated in United States v. Belt, 574 F.2d 1234, 1236-37 (5th Cir.1978):
In the case at bar, Pennington's motion for judgment of acquittal made at the close of the state's case should have been granted. In no sense could evidence offered by a codefendant, in his own case, and over which Pennington had no control, be said to constitute a waiver by Pennington. I therefore agree that Pennington's conviction should be reversed, and this cause remanded to the trial court with orders to enter a judgment of acquittal.
[*]  This rule was revised in 1972, amended in 1980, and renumbered Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.380.