Court Opinion

ID: 4383541
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2019-04-03 15:03:18.305465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:24:41.914865
License: Public Domain

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                 _____________________________

                         No. 1D17-5386
                 _____________________________

MARY JANE TERRY,

    Appellant,

    v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

    Appellee.
                 _____________________________

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Columbia County.
Wesley R. Douglas, Judge.

                          April 3, 2019

PER CURIAM.

     Mary Jane Terry was convicted of manufacturing cannabis in
violation of section 893.13, Florida Statutes. On appeal, she
contends that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the
conviction. We agree and reverse.

     Officers responded to the home where Terry and at least two
other people lived. The officers immediately noticed marijuana
plants growing outside. One officer honked his horn, hoping a
resident would come outside. Terry did, and the officers asked her
if there was marijuana growing on the property. Terry
acknowledged there was, showing officers the plants.

    We review de novo an order denying a motion for judgment of
acquittal. Pagan v. State, 830 So. 2d 792, 803 (Fla. 2002). We will
reverse only if we conclude no “rational trier of fact could find the
existence of the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Id. Here, although there was ample evidence that Terry was aware
of the marijuana plants, there was no evidence from which a jury
could conclude that she was responsible for the “production,
preparation, propagation, compounding, cultivating, growing,
conversion, or processing of a controlled substance.” See
§ 893.02(15)(a), Fla. Stat. (defining “manufactured” for purposes of
§ 893.13). We therefore conclude that the trial court should have
granted an acquittal.

    REVERSED.

ROBERTS, RAY, and WINSOR, JJ., concur.

                  _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Jessica J. Yeary, Assistant
Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Ashley B. Moody, Attorney General, and Trisha Meggs Pate and
Benjamin L. Hoffman, Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee,
for Appellee.

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