Jacksonville Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
Recently, the Florida Third District Court of Appeals reversed a Florida cocaine possession case. The court filed its opinion on December 8, 2010 for Watson v. State (35 Fla. L. Weekly D2717b). Watson was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison for trafficking in cocaine. He was pulled over and the officer found 124.6 grams of cocaine. He testified that he did not know the cocaine was under the the seat and that the car was not his. The officer never testified that he saw Watson hide the bag. During closing arguments, the State argued that it could be inferred from the bag’s position that Watson was trying to conceal the cocaine.
In this Florida Cocaine Possession Case, the Florida appellate court ruled that a prosecutor must confine his closing argument to evidence in the record and must not make comments which could not be reasonably inferred from the evidence. The evidence did not inferred that Watson hid the drugs, so the prosecution should not have stated this in the closing argument. The case was reversed.
If you are facing Possession of Cocaine or Trafficking in Cocaine charges in Jacksonville, Florida or the surrounding counties, contact a Jacksonville Possession of Cocaine Lawyer.