Opinion ID: 1799545
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: admission of codefendants' statements against gonzalez

Text: Gonzalez also asserts that the trial court erred by permitting the confessions of his codefendants Franqui and San Martin to be admitted against him in their joint trial and by denying his motion to sever his trial from that of his codefendants. In Franqui v. State, 699 So.2d 1312 (Fla.1997), we discussed in detail the law applicable to the admissibility of a codefendant's confession. In this case, there is no question that both Franqui's confession and San Martin's confession interlocked with Gonzalez's confession in many respects and was substantially incriminating to Gonzalez. Moreover, we cannot say that the totality of the circumstances under which Franqui and San Martin made their confessions demonstrated the particularized guarantee of trustworthiness sufficient to overcome the presumption of unreliability that attaches to accomplices' hearsay confessions which implicate the defendant. Thus, the admission of the confessions of Franqui and San Martin was error. However, with respect to guilt, we conclude that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Not only did Gonzalez confess to participating in the robbery, he also admitted shooting the victim. He does not contest the legality of his confession in this appeal. In addition, it was determined that the fatal bullet came from the gun that Gonzalez was carrying. Gonzalez admitted being with Franqui, and an eyewitness identified Franqui as the driver of one of the stolen cars leaving the scene of the crime. Further, Franqui's fingerprints were found on one of the stolen vehicles. Moreover, Gonzalez consented to a search of his apartment which revealed $1200 of the stolen money in his bedroom closet. Thus, we conclude that there is no reasonable possibility that the erroneous admission of the confessions of Franqui and San Martin contributed to Gonzalez's conviction for felony murder.