Davis v. State

Full title: SCOT HARDING DAVIS, APPELLANT, v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: Mar 25, 1986

485 So. 2d 490 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1986)

Opinion

No. 85-1810.

March 25, 1986.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Ellen J. Morphonios, J.

John P. Shevock, C. Edward McGee, Jr., Pompano Beach, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Richard L. Kaplan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HUBBART and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Because the disputed and equivocal circumstantial evidence that Davis was driving the decedent's vehicle at the time of the fatal accident was, as a matter of law, insufficient to overcome Davis' direct testimony on the stand and other evidence that he was a passenger, Mayo v. State, 71 So.2d 899 (Fla. 1954); see McArthur v. State, 351 So.2d 972 (Fla. 1977); cf. State v. Allen, 335 So.2d 823 (Fla. 1976), the conviction below of manslaughter under § 316.1931, Fla. Stat. (1983) is reversed with directions to discharge the defendant.