Harmless Error Analysis

4,402 Florida cases classified under this topic · sorted by citation count

• United States v. Dyer
  922 F.2d 105· 2d Cir.· 1990-12-21 ·cited 1×
  The court held that instructing the jury that filing an amended tax return could be considered an admission of knowing the original return was false was an erroneous instruction as a matter of law.
• Bennett v. State
  550 So. 2d 107· Fla. 4th DCA· 1989-09-27 ·cited 1×
  The court held that while the trial court erred in not holding an adequate evidentiary hearing on the motion to suppress the confession, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt due to overwhelming evidence of guilt.
• Walker v. State
  546 So. 2d 1165· Fla. 3d DCA· 1989-08-01 ·cited 1×
  Anthony Walker appealed his robbery conviction, arguing the trial court erred by denying his motion to reduce the charge to grand theft and by refusing to grant a mistrial based on improper bailiff-jury communication. The appellate court agreed that the State failed to prove the
• Alphonzo Carter v. State
  545 So. 2d 913· Fla. 2d DCA· 1989-04-26 ·cited 1×
  The court reversed the appellant's convictions due to two trial errors, remanding for a new trial.
• Woods v. Dugger
  711 F. Supp. 586· M.D. Fla.· 1989-04-14 ·cited 1×
  The court denied the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, finding no constitutional violations regarding jury intimidation, discriminatory peremptory challenges, denial of continuances, execution of an eighteen-year-old, transcript errors, or the Hitchcock claim.
• Bauer v. State
  528 So. 2d 6· Fla. 2d DCA· 1988-05-18 ·cited 1×
  Kenneth Bauer appeals his conviction for dealing in stolen property, challenging the trial court's admission of hearsay testimony from an undercover agent regarding information supplied by a confidential informant. The court reverses, holding that such hearsay is inadmissible to
• Downs v. Dugger
  514 So. 2d 1069· Fla.· 1987-09-09 ·cited 1×
  Ernest Downs, sentenced to death for a contract killing, petitioned for habeas corpus relief on the eve of his execution. The Florida Supreme Court granted the petition, vacating his death sentence and remanding for a new sentencing proceeding, finding that the trial court's jury
• Thomas v. Kemp
  479 U.S. 996· U.S.· 1986-12-01 ·cited 1×
• Sowell v. State
  458 So. 2d 375· Fla. 1st DCA· 1984-10-26 ·cited 1×
  Leonard Sowell was convicted of trespass after a jury trial, but the Florida District Court of Appeal reversed his conviction because the trial court improperly refused to poll the jury upon his timely request, denying him a fundamental constitutional right.
• Leonides Perez v. State
  434 So. 2d 347· Fla. 3d DCA· 1983-07-19 ·cited 1×
• PGA Nat'l Resort & Spa v. Ginsburg
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2026-09-09
  The trial court erred in taking judicial notice of an expired Florida Building Code provision as mandatory public statutory law, failing to provide procedural notice and opportunity to be heard, and admitting the provision without determining whether it applied to the case. The j
• Clark v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-09-09
  The First District affirmed the conviction. Justice Neff's concurrence establishes that Florida's current Anders procedure, as codified in Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.140(g)(2)(A), exceeds federal constitutional requirements by mandating that appellate courts conduct in
• Amari T. Wellons v. State
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2026-09-09
  Although evidence of a prior shooting into the defendant's residence was properly excluded as reverse Williams rule evidence, the trial court erred by failing to separately consider whether the same evidence was independently admissible to explain the defendant's flight from the
• Vallia v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-09-09
  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying three motions for mistrial where the prosecutor's cross-examination of a defense witness addressed third-party communications rather than the defendant's silence, the prosecutor's statement about the illegality of firing fro
• Green v. State
  Fla. 2d DCA· 2026-09-04
  The admission of irrelevant evidence (a steak knife and unused condoms) with no connection to the charged crimes, combined with multiple improper prosecutorial statements during closing argument, constitutes fundamental error requiring reversal of convictions for sexual battery a
• Carpenter v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-08-26
  An Apprendi claim challenging PRR designation as a violation of the Sixth Amendment cannot be raised by motion under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 3.800(b)(2) and must be preserved at trial by contemporaneous objection.
• United States v. Hollington
  11th Cir.· 2026-08-11
  Sufficient evidence supported Hollington's convictions for unlawfully prescribing controlled substances because he prescribed drugs either without legitimate medical purpose or outside the usual course of professional practice, including by conditioning prescriptions on sexual ac
• Wasko v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-07-31
  An appellant must properly preserve alleged errors in the trial court or demonstrate fundamental error to obtain appellate relief, and the appellate court has an independent obligation to ensure preservation regardless of the state's concession of error.
• Gingery v. State
  Fla. 5th DCA· 2026-07-24
  Under the Sixth Amendment as construed in Perry v. Leeke, a trial court does not violate a defendant's constitutional right to counsel by prohibiting consultation with counsel during a brief daytime recess taken while the defendant is testifying. The court affirmed the conviction
• Walker v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-07-22
  Any error in failing to submit to a jury the facts qualifying a defendant as a prison releasee reoffender is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt when the record conclusively shows the defendant was released within three years of reoffending.
• Foster v. State
  Fla.· 2026-07-16
  The postconviction court's credibility determination that the witness Henderson was not coerced into testifying falsely was supported by competent, substantial evidence, and therefore Foster failed to establish Brady and Giglio violations. The circuit court did not abuse its disc
• Lobo v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2026-07-15
  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in its jury selection, evidentiary rulings, and handling of trial proceedings in a capital murder case.
• Crawford v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-07-08
  The trial court did not err in excluding evidence regarding whether the Department had lawful charge of the minor, as any error was harmless given ample evidence of danger to the minor and the defendant's tampering conduct. The trial court properly struck the defendant's motion t
• Lewis v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-07-02
  A defendant must renew a pretrial objection to evidence at trial to preserve the issue for appeal, even when the trial court made a definitive pretrial ruling excluding the evidence, under the binding precedent of Carr v. State.
• McCarthy v. Hernandez
  U.S.· 2026-06-22
  No clearly established federal law required the trial court to instruct the jury on the attenuation doctrine when responding to the jury's question about whether an initial unwarned confession tainted later warned confessions. Missouri v. Seibert, which addresses a trial court's
• Cordell v. State
  Fla. 2d DCA· 2026-06-19
  The trial court committed reversible error by instructing the jury on the forcible felony exception to self-defense under section 776.041(1) because Cordell was charged only with third-degree murder and attempted felony murder—the very crimes for which he asserted self-defense—an
• Hoffman v. State
  Fla. 5th DCA· 2026-06-19
  Erlinger does not apply retroactively to cases that have become final, and arguments related to Apprendi are not cognizable under Rule 3.800(a).
• Judkins v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-06-03
  An audio recording of oral communications made surreptitiously in a home without the knowledge or consent of the speakers qualifies as a protected "oral communication" under Florida Statutes § 934.03 and is inadmissible in evidence, regardless of whether the speaker had a reasona
• Lukehart v. State
  Fla.· 2026-05-27
  The circuit court properly summarily denied Lukehart's successive postconviction motion because his as-applied Eighth Amendment challenge to Florida's lethal injection protocol was untimely and meritless, his facial challenge was meritless as the protocol had been previously uphe
• Barrish v. Interiors by Steven G., Inc.
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2026-05-27
  The FDUTPA claim was properly dismissed because the contract explicitly disclosed the pricing structure and the customer approved all invoices, failing to establish deception or unfair practices. The flooring credit award was supported by competent evidence independent of any set
• Cosme v. State
  Fla. 2d DCA· 2026-05-22
  Improper bolstering of a child victim's credibility through testimony from multiple witnesses, including law enforcement officers, constitutes reversible error when the case turns solely on the victim's credibility and no physical evidence exists. The State's reliance on such tes
• Dunlap v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-05-22
  Attempted manslaughter by act qualifies as a forcible felony under Florida's VCC statute because the use of physical force or violence is a necessary element of the crime and because attempted manslaughter involves a level of force comparable to the enumerated forcible felony of
• Darious Wilcox v. State of Fla. & Darious Wilcox v. Sec'y
  Fla.· 2026-05-21
  Penalty-phase counsel was not ineffective for declining to present mental-health evidence based on expert opinion that such evidence would be unfavorable, for not presenting additional background witnesses whose testimony would have been cumulative, or for stipulating to prior co
• Seneca D. Howard v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-05-15
  Evidence of a party-opponent's prior inconsistent statements is admissible under Florida law without requiring the witness an opportunity to explain or deny the statement before introduction of extrinsic evidence.
• Sanderson v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-05-13
  A trial court may determine that a defendant is a violent felony offender of special concern and poses a danger to the community based on judicial records and prior convictions without violating the Sixth Amendment, as Erlinger permits judges to find prior conviction facts for li
• Mock v. State
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2026-05-13
  Although a trial court errs in directly declaring a witness's expert status in front of the jury, such error is harmless when the State proves no reasonable possibility the error contributed to the conviction.
• 12170 Cwelt-2007 LLC v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2026-04-29
  Even assuming the trial court erred by conducting an oral hearing on a motion for reconsideration while the appellant was unrepresented, the error was harmless because the motion was untimely and legally insufficient, such that oral argument was not required and the motion could
• Shakel Devon McClain v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-04-22
  Any error in admitting text messages to McClain's girlfriend that showed character traits was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
• Zieler v. State
  Fla.· 2026-04-16
  The court affirmed Zieler's convictions and death sentences. The prosecutor's comments describing the jury's role as making a 'recommendation' did not constitute a Caldwell violation because the comments accurately described the jury's statutory role and did not improperly dimini
• Bullock v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-03-27
  The court affirmed the sentence, finding any error to be harmless even if the defendant's argument regarding a recent Supreme Court decision applied.
• Combs v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-03-27
  The court held that any error in the trial court's sentencing procedure was harmless because the record clearly demonstrated the defendant qualified for the mandatory minimum sentence.
• Soto v. State
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2026-03-25
  The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a defendant's convictions and sentences, including those as a Prison Releasee Reoffender (PRR). The court held that the trial court's findings for PRR sentencing were permissible and that any potential error was harmless because the de
• Jordy Yanes-Martel v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2026-03-25
  The Third District Court of Appeal reversed a conviction for battery and trespass, holding that the trial court improperly suppressed cross-examination testimony about the alleged victim's drug and alcohol use. The court found this evidence relevant for impeachment and not harmle
• M.C. v. Dep't of Child. & Families
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2026-03-13
  The trial court's denial of a mother's motion to appear and testify remotely at a termination of parental rights hearing is harmless error because it constitutes a procedural defect under Florida Rule of Juvenile Procedure 8.255(e)(1) that does not deprive a party of a substantiv
• Zink v. State
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2026-03-06
  Matthew Edward Zink appeals his conviction for lewd and lascivious molestation and life sentence. The trial court excluded child hearsay statements and designated him a prison releasee reoffender without jury findings. The appellate court affirms both rulings, finding any PRR des
• Humphrey v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-03-04
  Terry Lee Humphrey appeals his convictions for sexual battery and lewd conduct offenses. The court affirmed his convictions and two of his sentences, but reversed and remanded counts 4 and 5 for resentencing because the trial court improperly included two prior convictions exceed
• State v. Kaczmar
  Fla.· 2026-02-19
  The court held that the defendant was not prejudiced by the judge's statement to the jury pool that he had previously been sentenced to death, and therefore, the circuit court erred in vacating the death sentence on that basis.
• Kissy Terice Jovan Mackey v. State
  Fla. 5th DCA· 2026-02-06
  The trial court abused its discretion by admitting a videotaped police interrogation in which detectives repeatedly expressed opinions about the defendant's guilt and credibility without eliciting relevant responses, thereby improperly permitting police opinion testimony that inv
• Ivere Lee Hugger, III v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2026-01-28
  Any error in failing to submit the prison releasee reoffender (PRR) status determination to a jury was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt where uncontroverted evidence and defense counsel's stipulation established that Hugger committed the robbery within three years of his prior
• Francois v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2026-01-28
  The prosecutor's comments referring to the defendant as a "monster," describing the defense's mistaken identity theory, and making limited references to public safety and the victims' military service did not constitute reversible error because they were either invited by the def