WILLIE GRAVES, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Willie Graves was convicted of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of school property. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction, rejecting Graves's challenge to the trial court's admission of a survey map showing the school's location relative to the alleged drug transaction.
The trial court properly took judicial notice of the survey map under Florida Statutes §§ 90.202(11), 90.202(12), and 90.203. The map did not establish an element of the crime but rather served only to aid officer testimony regarding measurements, and therefore could be properly judicially noticed and admitted into evidence.
[1] A court may take judicial notice of facts that are not subject to dispute because they are capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy…
[2] A court shall take judicial notice of matters capable of accurate and ready determination when a party requests it and provides timely written notice to the adverse party…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The defense argued in part that the court could not take judicial notice of the map because it could not judicially notice a fact which constitutes an element of the crime charged. The map in the instant case clearly did not establish an element of the crime.”
Establishes the distinction between judicially noticing facts that are elements of crimes (improper) versus those that merely support testimony (proper)
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGraves was charged with sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of school property under Florida Statute § 893.13(1)(e). The state introduced a survey map l…
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PER CURIAM.
We affirm appellant’s conviction for the sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of school property. § 893.13(1)(e), Fla.Stat. (1989). We disagree with appellant’s claim that the trial court erroneously admitted into evidence a survey map which was used by the state to demonstrate the location of the school in relation to the alleged drug transaction. The map is labeled Dade County Public School Board. Affixed to it is the seal of a professional surveyor and attached to it is an affidavit from a coordinator in the Site Planning and Government Liaison Department for the Dade County School Board.
Prior to trial, the state moved the court to take judicial notice of the map pursuant to sections 90.202(11), 90.202(12), and 90.-203, Florida Statutes (1989). These sections provide:
90.202 Matters which may be judicially noticed. — A court may take judicial notice of the following matters, to the extent that they are not embraced within s. 90.201:
(11) Facts that are not subject to dispute because they are generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
(12) Facts that are not subject to dispute because they are capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot be questioned.
§ 90.202(11) and (12) (1989).
90.203 Compulsory judicial notice upon request. — A court shall take judicial notice of any matter in s. 90.202 when a party requests it and:
(1) Gives each adverse party timely written notice of the request, proof of which is filed with the court, to enable the adverse party to prepare to meet the request.
(2) Furnishes the court with sufficient information to enable it to take judicial notice of the matter. § 90.203 (1989).
The defense argued in part that the court could not take judicial notice of the map because it could not judicially notice a fact which constitutes an element of the crime charged. The map in the instant case clearly did not establish an element of the crime. The map was used at trial only to aid the officer testifying to the jury as to the actual site he had made his measurements. The map could be judicially noticed under the cited statutes and that was properly done. Thus, the map became part of the cumulative evidence upon which defendant’s conviction was based. We find other points raised by appellant equally unmeritorious and, accordingly, we affirm the conviction and sentence entered below.
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McKINNEY v. State, 640 So. 2d 1183 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)…Pythias, of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, Jurisdiction of Florida v. Moore, 120 Fla. 761, 163 So. 108 (1935) (fact that organization was a fraternal benefit society could be judicially noticed); Graves v. State, 587 So. 2d 633 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991) (court could take judicial notice of survey map in prosecution for selling drugs within 1000 feet of a school). II. PROOF OF PROXIMITY TO THE SCHOOL Although the trial court took judicial notice of the status of the school, it d…
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Cordova v. State, 675 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)…g., City of Fort Lauderdale v. Town of Hacienda Village, Inc., 172 So. 2d 451 (Fla.1965) (population statistics); Barry v. Garcia, 573 So. 2d 932, 933 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 583 So. 2d 1034 (Fla.1991) (prior civil unrest); Graves v. State, 587 So. 2d 633 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991) (geographic fact); Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Magee, 389 So. 2d 1090 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) (same). Despite our holding that the lower court incorrectly judicially noticed the fact that Cordova was served with the injunction, “[w]e ap…
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