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475 So. 2d 973

475 So.2d 973

10 Fla.L.Weekly 2110

State v. McIntosh

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided September 11, 1985

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1985-09-11

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently June 1988

2 state decisions

Relies on 419 So. 2d 394 - Jackson v. State · 410 So. 2d 1355 - Kaelin v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1985-09-11

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PER CURIAM.

¶1We treat the state’s notice of appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari from a trial court pretrial order holding that a minor witness was incompetent to testify at trial and grant the petition. See Kaelin v. State, 410 So.2d 1355 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). We concur in the trial court’s determination that a statement made by the minor witness to her grandmother would not be admissible at trial. The circumstances of this case are unlike those of Jackson v. State, 419 So.2d 394 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982).

¶2Our ruling should not be construed to preclude the trial court from exercising its authority to make a de novo determination of the competency of the witness to testify when the witness is actually called to testify at trial. We merely hold that on the record as it existed at the time of the pretrial hearing the court’s finding was unsupported by competent substantial evidence. The fact that the minor witness had an erratic record of responding at times to some questions while being unresponsive at other times is not, in our view, a basis to adjudge her not competent to be called as a witness at trial.

ANSTEAD, DELL and WALDEN, JJ., concur.
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