County Criminal Court:
CRIMINAL LAW-Jury Trial-Evidence- trial court did not error in denying
appellant's motion for judgment of acquittal - the state is not required to
"rebut conclusively every possible variation" of events which could
be inferred from the evidence, but only to introduce competent evidence which
is inconsistent with the defendant's theory of events-in reviewing a finding of a jury trial, a judgment of conviction is
presumed correct and a defendant’s claim of sufficiency of the evidence cannot
prevail where there is substantial competent evidence to support the verdict-Order
affirmed. Arce v. State, No. 04-00038. (
IN
THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
OF
THE STATE OF
APPELLATE
DIVISION
JOSEPH ARCE,
Appellant,
vs. Appeal
No: CRC04-00038CFAES
STATE OF
Appellee.
____________________________/
Opinion filed _________________________.
Appeal from verdict, judgment and sentence
Pasco County Court
County Judge Robert P. Cole
Joy K. Goodyear, Esq.
Attorney for Appellant
C. Marie King, Esq.
Attorney for Appellee
ORDER
AND OPINION
THIS MATTER is
before the Court on the defendant’s appeal of the judgment and sentence entered
by the Pasco County Court after a jury trial.
After reviewing the briefs and record, this Court affirms the trial
court’s decision.
On November
9, 2001, Richard Young, owner of Find It First Locating Service, Inc., fired
Joseph Arce for his inadequate job performance. Young testified that Arce
was angry when he was fired and used a lot of profanities. Young explained that
after he fired Arce, he told him to give him the keys to the company
vehicle. Young testified that Arce told him the keys were in the truck. Young then told
him to go out to the truck to get them.
Young stayed at the office with his manager, Joe Mancuso, and watched
from the door. Young testified that he observed Arce
get into the driver's side of the vehicle, sit down and make a striking motion
with his right hand. Young could not see
exactly what Arce was hitting, but saw Arce's fist come down in a violent motion. Arce then exited
the vehicle and began to walk away. Young then went out to the truck to
retrieve the keys from the truck's floorboard. Young removed all of the
equipment from the truck and brought it back inside to his office to inventory
with Mancuso. One of the items found in
the truck was the company issued laptop, which was found on the front passenger
seat. While looking over the items, Young discovered that the laptop, which had
been issued to Arce for his work, was damaged. Both Young and Mancuso explained that the keyboard
area was damaged, stating that it was 'concaved'. Young stated that after he discovered the
damage to the computer, he went after Arce in order to
confront him. Young testified that Arce said "I don't give a [ ] about your
computer." Deputy Kelly testified
at trial that Arce told him he was willing to repair
the computer.
Arce's theory at trial was that he used his computer the
day he was fired, he went to the truck when asked for the keys followed by
Young, the laptop was damaged by his boss to get even with him, and he made a
comment stating that he didn't care about the computer. Arce
was the only person to offer contradictory evidence testifying that he had used
the laptop all day, did not damage the laptop, and did not offer to repair it.
Arce argues that the trial court committed error in not
granting his motion for judgment of acquittal because the only evidence against
him was circumstantial and his testimony set forth a
reasonable hypothesis of innocence that was not rebutted by the State. This Court disagrees. "A motion for judgment of acquittal
should be granted in a circumstantial evidence case if the State fails to
present evidence from which the jury can exclude every reasonable hypothesis except
that of guilt." Orme
v. State, 677 So. 2d 258, 262 (
Because we find that it is
clear from the record that the state introduced competent evidence from which
the jury could have reasonably rejected Arce's theory, the result reached
by the trial court is affirmed.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the judgments and sentences be AFFIRMED.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at New
Port Richey,
________________________
Primary Appellate Judge
_____________________
Daniel D. Diskey
Circuit Judge
______________________
Circuit Judge
Copies furnished to:
Honorable Robert P. Cole
Joy K. Goodyear, Assistant Public Defender
C. Marie King, Assistant State Attorney