Theard v. State

Full title: Jacques E. THEARD, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: Dec 17, 2003

861 So. 2d 103 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2003)

Opinion

No. 3D03-752.

December 17, 2003.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Richard Margolius, Judge.

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Marti Rothenberg, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, and Jason Helfant and Thomas C. Mielke, Assistant Attorneys General, for appellee.

Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and LEVY and SHEVIN, JJ.

SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

The conviction and sentence imposed below for violating an injunction against domestic violence, see section 741.31, Florida Statutes (2001), after a two-day, three-witness jury trial, is reversed for a new one because of the grossly abusive limitation of counsel to five minutes for final argument. See Stockton v. State, 544 So.2d 1006 (Fla. 1989); Munez v. State, 643 So.2d 82 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994); Adams v. State, 585 So.2d 1092 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Foster v. State, 464 So.2d 1214 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984).

We find no merit in the other points presented. See Franklin v. State, 825 So.2d 487 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002); Crume v. State, 703 So.2d 1216 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997).

Reversed.