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267 So. 2d 884

Mitchell v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided October 25, 1972

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1972-10-25

Relies on 262 So. 2d 253 - Lockett v. State · 206 So. 2d 446 - Williams v. State · 253 So. 2d 715 - Webb v. State

Decided 1972-10-25

PER CURIAM.

¶1Defendant was convicted of grand larceny through the use of circumstantial evidence, some of which was hearsay. He appeals. We reverse.

¶2The intricacies of the accounting proofs and relative contentions are well known to the state and the defendant via their respective briefs. It would serve no worthwhile purpose to extend this opinion by recounting them. Suffice it to say the bulk of the incriminating testimony offered by the company president, Mr. Sheldon Fleming, was hearsay without which there would be a manifest insufficiency of evidence. Webb v. State, Fla.App.1971, 253 So.2d 715.

¶3Secondly, even with use of the hearsay, the circumstantial evidence such as it was does not exclude every reasonable hypothesis except guilt. 13 Fla.Jur., Evidence, § 435 (1957); Williams v. State, Fla.App. 1968, 206 So.2d 446; Lockett v. State, Fla. App.1972, 262 So.2d 253. Thus, the proofs are not sufficient to sustain defendant’s conviction.

¶4The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.

¶5Reversed and remanded.

WALDEN, CROSS and OWEN, JJ., concur.
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