Summary
finding that the record contained no evidence establishing criminal intent in part because the defendant "believed in good faith that she had a right to the [property]"
Summary of this case from Bartlett v. StateOpinion
No. 87-2386.
November 17, 1987.
Petition for review from the Circuit Court, Dade County, James C. Henderson, Michael Salmon and Martin Greenbaum, JJ.
Charlton Stoner, Miami, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Yvette Rhodes Prescott, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.
The circuit court affirmed a county court non-jury finding and adjudication that the petitioner-defendant was guilty of the petit theft of certain cactus plants in an incident which arose from a prolonged dispute between neighbors. On this petition for certiorari review, we find no evidence whatever of essential elements of the offense, including those that the defendant had "obtain[ed] or use[d]," § 812.014(1), Fla. Stat. (1985), the property in question or, in view of the unrebutted evidence that she believed in good faith that she had a right to the plants, that she possessed the requisite criminal intent. Rodriguez v. State, 396 So.2d 798 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); 16 Fla.Jur. 2d Criminal Law § 1389 (1979). Since the appellate approval of a judgment which is totally unsupported by the record constitutes a departure from the essential requirements of the law, Lee v. State, 374 So.2d 1094 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979); 3 Fla.Jur. 2d Appellate Review § 515 (1978), the decision under review is quashed and the cause remanded with directions to require the county court to discharge the defendant.
See Rodriguez v. State, 396 So.2d 798, 800 n. 7 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) ("a controversy such as this seems more appropriately the subject of a civil action than a criminal prosecution").
Certiorari granted.