07-3217 AMBER RENEA BAKER v. STATE OF FLORIDA

State: Florida

Court: Florida First District Court

Docket No: 07-3217

Case Date: 09/22/2008

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA AMBER RENEA BAKER, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. ___________________________/ Opinion filed September 22, 2008. An appeal from the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Nickolas P. Geeker, Judge. Ryan Thomas Truskoski of Ryan Thomas Truskoski, P.A., Orlando, for Appellant. Bill McCollum, Attorney General, and Natalie D. Kirk, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED CASE NO. 1D07-3217

PER CURIAM. On direct appeal of her racketeering conviction, Amber Renea Baker argues the trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal. She contends the

state failed to adduce sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she knew that the escort service her brother ran, and for which she worked occasionally, operated as a front for a prostitution ring.1 We reverse. The state put on no evidence that she acted as a prostitute herself, and failed to adduce evidence sufficient to prove that she agreed to secure (an)other person(s) for prostitution or otherwise violated2 section 796.07, Florida Statutes (2006). See State v. Law, 559 So. 2d 187, 188 (Fla. 1989); Tibbs v. State, 397 So. 2d 1120, 1123 (Fla.1981) (stating legal test for deciding whether to affirm denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal is "whether after all conflicts in the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom have been resolved in favor of the verdict on appeal, there is substantial, competent evidence to support the verdict and judgment"); Robinson v.

The state charged appellant with violating the racketeering statute, see

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