H.M. v. State

Full title: H.M., a juvenile, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: Jan 2, 2002

802 So. 2d 1185 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2002)

Opinion

Case No. 3D01-131

Opinion filed January 2, 2002.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Lester Langer, Judge. Lower Tribunal No. 00-7316.

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Lisa Walsh, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Darien M. Doe, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before GERSTEN, GODERICH and SORONDO, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The respondent, H.M., appeals from his adjudication of delinquency for burglary. As the State properly concedes, the trial court should have granted the respondent's motion for judgment of acquittal with respect to the burglary count where there was no evidence refuting his reasonable hypothesis of innocence that he was only an onlooker or mere witness to a crime. J.W. v. State, 467 So.2d 796, 797 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) ("Presence at the scene of the offense and flight from the scene is legally insufficient to establish appellant's guilt as an aider and abettor."). Instead, as the parties acknowledged at oral argument, the trial court should have entered an adjudication of delinquency for trespass.

Reversed and remanded with directions.