4D08-2678-Turner a/k/a Wilson v. State*

State: Florida

Court: Florida Southern District Court

Docket No: 4D08-2678.op

Case Date: 02/24/2010

Plaintiff: 4D08-2678-Turner a/k/a Wilson

Defendant: State*

Preview:DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FOURTH DISTRICT

January Term 2010
JIMMY TURNER a/k/a TOMMIE WILSON,
Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
No. 4D08-2678
[February 24, 2010]
WARNER, J.
Appellant, Jimmy Turner, was convicted of fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer, giving a false name to an officer, and driving while license suspended.  He contends that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for judgment of acquittal based upon his defense of duress to the fleeing and eluding charge.  Because the evidence supporting his defense, namely his own testimony, was rebutted, we affirm.  He also moved for judgment of acquittal on the charge of driving while license suspended. Because the state failed to prove the element of knowledge of the suspension, we reverse that conviction.
While on road patrol one evening, a law enforcement officer observed a vehicle operating without headlights.  The officer activated his lights and siren and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.  The vehicle continued eight blocks without slowing down, turned onto another street, continued one more block, and then turned again into a shopping plaza before coming to a stop.  The officer testified that the vehicle did not stop at all when it got to the street where it turned.  Two passengers, one of whom was carrying a handgun, exited the vehicle and fled.  The officer approached Turner, the driver.  At the time Turner was out on bond on another felony.  Turner gave the officer a false name, and he was booked into jail under that name.  He also told the officer that he did not know his passengers.
At trial, Turner presented a duress defense, claiming that his cousin and a friend were the passengers with him in the vehicle.  When the officer turned on his lights and sirens, his cousin

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