WARREN TRAVIS GOLDEN
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Inconsistent jury verdicts are permitted in Florida when a defendant is convicted of a firearm-based offense despite a negative firearm finding, because jury verdicts can reflect lenity and do not necessarily speak to guilt or innocence.
[1] A jury verdict convicting a defendant of a firearm-based offense while finding no actual firearm possession does not constitute an impermissible legal inconsistency under…
Previewing 1 of 1 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“inconsistent jury verdicts are permitted in Florida 'because jury verdicts can be the result of lenity and therefore do not always speak to the guilt or innocence of the defendant'”
The court cited Turner v. State to explain why inconsistent verdicts are allowed under Florida law.
Warren Travis Golden was convicted in the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County, and appealed, challenging the consisten…
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DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FOURTH DISTRICT
WARREN TRAVIS GOLDEN, Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
No. 4D2025-1272
[October 14, 2026]
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Sarah Willis, Judge; L.T. Case No. 502018CF003235AXXXMB.
Hani Demetrious of the Law Office of Robert David Malove, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Kimberly T. Acuña, Senior Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Affirmed. See Turner v. State, 301 So. 3d 1017, 1019–20 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019) (holding that second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder verdicts were factually, but not legally, inconsistent with a finding of no actual firearm possession, although the only evidence supporting guilt was the defendant's possession and discharge of a firearm; inconsistent jury verdicts are permitted in Florida “because jury verdicts can be the result of lenity and therefore do not always speak to the guilt or innocence of the defendant”); State v. Carswell, 914 So. 2d 9, 11–12 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (holding that a negative firearm finding did not negate the elements of aggravated battery based on great bodily harm and could reflect a lawful jury pardon); cf. Bott v. State, 307 So. 3d 26, 29–30 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020) (reversing aggravated assault and aggravated battery convictions where negative firearm findings negated the required deadlyweapon element because the charging document, evidence, and instructions proceeded solely on a firearm theory).
FORST, SHEPHERD and SHAW, JJ., concur.
* * *
Not final until disposition of timely-filed motion for rehearing.
2
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- State v. Carswell, 914 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)
- Bott v. State, 307 So. 3d 26 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020)