5D04-393 Mary Juarez v. State

State: Florida

Court: Florida Fifth District Court

Docket No: 5D04-393

Case Date: 01/17/2005

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT JANUARY TERM 2005

MARY WRIGHT JUAREZ, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. ________________________________/ Decision filed January 21, 2005 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, R. Michael Hutcheson, Judge. James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Leonard R. Ross, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Belle B. Schumann, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee. Case No. 5D04-393

PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED.

SAWAYA, CJ, and PLEUS, J., concur. SHARP, W., J., dissents, with opinion.

5D04-393

SHARP, W., J., dissenting. In my view, in this unusual case, I think the trial court erred in not granting the defendant's (Mrs. Juarez') motion for judgment of acquittal. She was charged with throwing a deadly missile through a garage window, which belonged to her ex-husband. She knew the garage was not occupied at the time and Juarez explained she threw the object (a concrete sprinkler-head protector) out of frustration over her loss of custody of her children and lack of visitation rights. She testified she did not want to damage anything except the window pane and that she knew her actions would not cause anyone death or great bodily harm. No evidence was offered to dispute this testimony and no evidence was produced to show that throwing the sprinkler head, as was done in this case, would produce death or great bodily harm, as required by the statute, section 790.19, Florida Statutes. See H.H. v. State, 773 So. 2d 122 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). Although not raised on appeal as an issue and not a viable one in any event, I am troubled by the length of the sentence imposed in this case

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