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312 So. 2d 247

Docket No. 74-1067.

Borders v. State

Joe BORDERS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided April 1, 1975.

Rehearing Denied May 21, 1975.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1975-04-01

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“"A person charged with a crime may be convicted solely on the basis of circumstantial evidence... . Indeed it is well recognized that the existence of a conspiracy or confederation can and will be inferred from circumstantial evidence as indicative of an overall plan." (citations omitted) Borders v. State, supra, page 248.”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including State v. Lamb, 390 So. 2d 779 - McCain v. State

Relies on United States v. Edwards · United States v. Amato · United States v. Nadaline

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1975-04-01

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently October 2006

13 state decisions

701975198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1*248 Gerald Kogan, Miami, for appellant.

¶2Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Joel D. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

¶3Before HENDRY, HAVERFIELD and NATHAN, JJ.

¶4PER CURIAM.

¶5This appeal considers defendant's conviction by non-jury trial for conspiracy to commit the misdemeanor of bookmaking and his sentence therefor to 45 days in the Dade County Jail.

¶6The thrust of the appeal is that the court erred in entering a judgment of guilty as the evidence was insufficient to show that the defendant had agreed with others to commit an illegal act. Borders, the defendant, contends that the law requires proof of such agreement, not just circumstantial evidence.

¶7The State contends that there was sufficient evidence of a conspiracy as alleged, that it was not necessary to prove a specific conversation in which an agreement was made but that circumstantial evidence of a conspiracy is sufficient for conviction. We agree.

¶8A person charged with a crime may be convicted solely on the basis of circumstantial evidence. Navarro v. State, Fla.App. 1972, 262 So.2d 729, 731. See also Williams v. State, 1917, 73 Fla. 1198, 75 So. 785, 788, and Chason v. State, 1941, 148 Fla. 540, 4 So.2d 691. Proof of a formal agreement is not necessary to establish the existence of a conspiracy. United States v. Amato, 5th Cir.1974, 495 F.2d 545. Indeed it is well recognized that the existence of a conspiracy or confederation can and will be inferred from circumstantial evidence as indicative of an overall plan. Bass v. State, Fla.App. 1965, 172 So.2d 614, 617; United States v. Nadaline, 5th Cir.1973, 471 F.2d 340. See also United States v. Edwards, 5th Cir.1974, 488 F.2d 1154.

¶9Our review of the record indicates that sufficient evidence was presented to the court to support the judgment of conviction for conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, to-wit: bookmaking, and, therefore, this conviction and the sentence imposed by the trial court hereby are affirmed.

¶10Affirmed.

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