DARRON L. BRANTON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Branton was convicted of robbery with a firearm and three counts of accessory after the fact to robbery with a firearm for the same criminal act—driving a getaway car. The court affirmed his robbery conviction but reversed and remanded the accessory convictions, holding that a person cannot be convicted as both a principal to a crime and as an accessory after the fact to the same crime.
A person convicted as a principal to a crime cannot also be convicted as an accessory after the fact to the same crime, as these offenses are mutually exclusive. The trial court should have dismissed the accessory after the fact counts as the lesser of the two offenses.
[1] A person convicted as a principal to a crime cannot also be convicted as an accessory after the fact to the same crime, as these offenses are mutually exclusive.
[2] The offense of accessory after the fact applies only to individuals who are not principals in the underlying offense.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“[A] person convicted as a principal to a crime cannot also be convicted as an accessory after the fact to the same crime, since these two offenses are mutually exclusive.”
Establishes the core legal principle that principal and accessory convictions for the same crime are incompatible.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBranton drove three other men to a grocery store where they robbed the owner at gunpoint, then drove them away from the scene to a hotel. After a jury…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Mutually Exclusive Offenses cases and more on FLexlaw
Darron L. Branton appeals his judgments and sentences for robbery with a firearm and three counts of accessory after the fact to robbery with a firearm. We affirm his judgment and sentence for robbery with a firearm without discussion; however, we reverse his judgments and sentences for the three counts of accessory after the fact and remand for the trial court to vacate those judgments.
Branton was convicted of robbery with a firearm and three counts of accessory after the fact to robbery with a firearm based on the same criminal act. The evidence at trial showed that Branton drove three other men to the Hilltop Food Market, the three men entered the store and robbed the owner at gunpoint, and Bran-ton then drove the three men from the store to a hotel.1 After a jury trial, Bran-ton was convicted as a principal to the crime of robbery with a firearm for driving the getaway car, and he was convicted of three counts of accessory after the fact to robbery with a firearm for driving the getaway car for the three other men. After the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all four counts, the trial court should have dismissed the accessory after the fact counts as the lesser of the two offenses. See Williams v. State, 66 So.3d 360, 361 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011), review granted, 70 So.3d 588 (Fla.2011).
“[A] person convicted as a principal to a crime cannot also be convicted as an accessory after the fact to the same crime, since these two offenses are mutually exclusive.” Donaldson v. State, 722 So.2d 177, 184 (Fla.1998). In Staten v. State, 519 So.2d 622, 623-24 (Fla.1988), the appellant was convicted of second-degree murder, aggravated battery, armed robbery, and three counts of accessory after the fact. Similar to the circumstances in the present case, the appellant stayed in the car while others committed the murder, robbery and battery, and thereafter, the appellant drove the others to her mother’s house and the group separated. Id. at 623. The Florida Supreme Court concluded that the legislature intended that the offense of accessory after the fact apply only to individuals who are not principals in the underlying offense. Id. at 626. The court noted that convictions for both offenses do not violate double jeopardy principals and that its decision was based only on its construction of the statute defining the crime of accessory after the fact. Id. at 625 (citing § 777.03, Fla. Stat. (1985)). The court reasoned that “a principal cannot also become an accessory after the fact by his or her subsequent acts.” Id.; see also Bowen v. State, 791 So.2d 44, 50 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (“[A] person cannot be convicted as both a principal in a crime and as an accessory after the fact to the same crime, and the crime of accessory after the fact cannot arise until the underlying crime is complete.”).
Accordingly, we reverse and remand Branton’s judgments and sentences for three counts of accessory after the fact to robbery with a firearm for the trial court to vacate those judgments and sentences. Branton’s judgment and sentence for robbery with a firearm is affirmed.
Affirmed'in part and reversed in part.
KHOUZAM and BLACK, JJ., Concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Arrington v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr. (Duval County) (M.D. Fla. 2024)…ete."). The Court then remanded the case only 22 ---PAGE 22--- for the trial court to vacate the convictions as to the accessory charge. Id. at 626. Similarly, the Florida Supreme Court considered this issue in Branton v. State, 86 So.3d 560 (Fla. 2012), where the appellant was convicted of robbery with a firearm and three counts of accessory after the fact to robbery with a firearm. Relying on the analysis in Staten, the Court reversed and remanded the appellant's j…
Authorities Cited
- Staten v. State, 519 So. 2d 622 (Fla. 1988)
- Donaldson v. State, 722 So. 2d 177 (Fla. 1998)
- Bowen v. State, 791 So. 2d 44 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
- Williams v. State, 66 So. 3d 360 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011)