# Brown v. State

> District Court of Appeal of Florida · October 27, 1992 · 609 So. 2d 656

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7624926

## Case

- **Full name:** Keith Eugene BROWN v. The STATE of Florida
- **Court:** District Court of Appeal of Florida
- **Decided:** October 27, 1992
- **Citations:** 609 So. 2d 656; 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 11176; 1992 WL 308662
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court
- **Judges:** Barkdull, Levy, Nesbitt
- **Cited by:** 1 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7624926

## Opinion text

PER CURIAM.
The appellant, defendant in the trial court, seeks review of his conviction and sentence to ten years imprisonment with a minimum mandatory of five years plus $1,800.00 restitution. The sentence was entered pursuant to a jury verdict which found the defendant guilty of grand theft of a motor vehicle.
He alleges two grounds for reversal: (1) the trial court erred in giving a jury instruction on flight over the defendant’s timely objection, contrary to the holding in Fenelon v. State, 594 So.2d 292 (Fla.1992), (2) the trial court erred in sentencing the defendant as a violent felony offender when the 1989 amendment to § 775.084, Florida Statutes (1989) is unconstitutional.
Turning to the first point we must find for the appellant. Commensurate with the holding of the Supreme Court in Smith v. State, 598 So.2d 1063 (Fla.1992), the defendant is entitled to the benefit of Fenelon , which disapproved of a jury instruction on flight. 1 The defendant having properly objected to the flight instruction, has preserved the issue for appellate review, Smith . Therefore, we reverse the defendant’s conviction and remand the cause for a new trial. Because of this finding it is unnecessary for us to reach the remaining point on appeal.
Reversed and remanded.
. In fairness to the trial court, we must point out that when the flight instruction was given the trial judge could not have been aware of the ruling in Fenelon , which was rendered some seven months after the trial court gave the complained of charge.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/7624926. Public record. Not legal advice.