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797 So. 2d 1286

Docket No. 4D00-3133.

Diaz v. State

Angel DIAZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided October 31, 2001.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 2001-10-31

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently January 2015

5 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“[w]e have great confidence in the common sense of jurors to decide cases on the law and facts without being unduly swayed by the lawyers’ oratory. A prosecutor does not violate her obligation to seek justice by arguing the state’s case with passion and conviction.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 89 So. 3d 1011 - Jackson v. State

“flat, robotic recitation[] of `just the facts.'”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 922 So. 2d 1018 - Dial v. State

Relies on State v. Townsend · 668 So. 2d 1016 - Norman v. Gloria Farms, Inc. · Anderson v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2001-10-31

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1*1287 Maury Halperin, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

¶2Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Meredith L. Balo, Assistant Attorney General, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.

¶3GROSS, J.

¶4We find one unpreserved error, but no fundamental error, in the prosecutor's closing argument. "A prosecutor's obligation is to secure justice, not victory at any cost." Cruse v. State,522 So.2d 90, 91 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). However, this duty does not limit prosecutors' closing arguments to flat, robotic recitations of "just the facts." Closing argument "is a time for robust, vigorous, challenging ... of an opponent's ideas." Norman v. Gloria Farms, Inc.,668 So.2d 1016, 1032 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (Farmer, J., dissenting). We have great confidence in the common sense of jurors to decide cases on the law and facts without being unduly swayed by the lawyers' oratory. A prosecutor does not violate her obligation to seek justice by arguing the state's case with passion and conviction.

¶5On the remaining issue, appellant did not preserve his objections to the quality of the trial court's factual findings required by section 90.803(23), Florida Statutes (2000). Such error, if any, was not fundamental error. See Anderson v. State,655 So.2d 1118, 1119 (Fla.1995); State v. Townsend,635 So.2d 949, 959 (Fla.1994).

¶6KLEIN and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.

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