Makranczy v. State

Full title: Attila MAKRANCZY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

Date published: Nov 20, 2014

150 So. 3d 287 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014)

Opinion

No. 1D12–4410.

11-20-2014

Attila MAKRANCZY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

D. Gray Thomas of Law Office of D. Gray Thomas, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Angela R. Hensel, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

WOLF, J.

D. Gray Thomas of Law Office of D. Gray Thomas, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Angela R. Hensel, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Opinion

WOLF, J.

Appellant challenges his convictions and sentences for aggravated battery and criminal mischief. He raises a number of issues, only one of which we need to address because it is dispositive. We determine the trial court reversibly erred in limiting cross-examination of the victim concerning his consultation with an attorney in contemplation of a civil suit. See Wooten v. State, 464 So.2d 640 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) (finding that it is reversible error to prohibit cross-examination of an alleged victim in a criminal case on the subject of whether the victim had hired an attorney to file a law suit on his behalf against the defendant even when a civil action is merely contemplated). We also cannot say the error was harmless based on the facts of this case.

REVERSED and REMANDED for a new trial.

ROWE and OSTERHAUS, JJ., concur.