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600 So. 2d 509

Williams v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided June 9, 1992

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1992-06-09

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently March 1996

2 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“Any evidence tending to establish that a witness is appearing for the State for any reason other than to tell the truth should not be kept from the jury.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 670 So. 2d 119 - Cortes v. State

Relies on Jones v. State · 422 So. 2d 336 - A. McD. v. State · Lavette v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1992-06-09

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PER CURIAM.

¶1Williams was convicted for selling a $10 cocaine rock within 1,000 feet of school property and sentenced to a fifteen-year term of imprisonment as a habitual offender with a three-year mandatory minimum term.

¶2The question presented is whether the fact that the State’s informant — a witness to the drug transaction — had an outstanding bench warrant for driving with a suspended license,1 was relevant evidence which should have been admitted as impeachment evidence. We hold that the evidence was wrongfully excluded.

¶3Any evidence tending to establish that a witness is appearing for the State for any reason other than to tell the truth should not be kept from the jury. A. McD. v. State, 422 So.2d 336 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Lavette v. State, 442 So.2d 265 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), rev. denied, 449 So.2d 265 (Fla.1984).

¶4Reversed and remanded for a new trial.

¶5. Driving while a license is under suspension is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to sixty days of incarceration.

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