Harmless Error Analysis

4,402 Florida cases classified under this topic · sorted by citation count · see the citation graph · browse and sort

• Featherstone v. Estelle
  948 F.2d 1497· 9th Cir.· 1991-10-31
  The court held that the petitioner's claims of prejudicial trial errors and ineffective assistance of counsel did not rise to the level of federal constitutional violations warranting habeas corpus relief.
• Pensinger v. California
  502 U.S. 930· U.S.· 1991-10-21
• Cleveland Rosier v. State
  586 So. 2d 516· Fla. 1st DCA· 1991-10-10
• United States v. Jacobo Graibe
  946 F.2d 1414· 9th Cir.· 1991-10-09
  The court held that the district court's failure to inform the defendant that he could not withdraw his guilty plea if the court refused to accept the government's sentencing recommendation constituted a violation of Rule 11(e)(2) that affected a substantial right and was not har
• Rivadeneira v. State
  586 So. 2d 500· Fla. 3d DCA· 1991-10-01
  Evidence of crimes for which a defendant has been acquitted is inadmissible in a subsequent trial.
• Bryant v. State
  586 So. 2d 1269· Fla. 1st DCA· 1991-09-30
  The court held that the trial court erred in admitting a child's deposition testimony under a statute intended for sexual abuse cases, and this error was not harmless. The conviction for carrying a concealed weapon was affirmed due to proper preservation.
• Walker v. State
  586 So. 2d 1157· Fla. 2d DCA· 1991-08-30
  Gregory Walker appeals his convictions for burglary, kidnapping, aggravated battery, and sexual battery. The Florida District Court of Appeal reverses and remands for a new trial because the trial court allowed the jury to separate overnight during deliberations, which the Florid
• United States v. Saunders
  943 F.2d 388· 4th Cir.· 1991-08-15
  The court held that the exclusion of evidence regarding the victim's past sexual conduct with a third party was proper under Federal Rule of Evidence 412, and that there was no substantial government interference with defense witnesses.
• Schrier v. State OF Iowa & William Armontrout
  941 F.2d 647· 8th Cir.· 1991-08-01
  The court held that any error in instructing the jury on an alternative theory of first-degree murder was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, and other claims lacked merit.
• United States v. Peters
  937 F.2d 1422· 9th Cir.· 1991-07-02
  The court held that the district court erred in excluding the expert witness as a sanction for a discovery violation because no tangible report or physical examination results were withheld, and thus no discovery rule was violated. The court remanded for a determination of the ex
• Feltrop v. Missouri
  501 U.S. 1262· U.S.· 1991-06-28
• Herrera v. State
  581 So. 2d 958· Fla. 3d DCA· 1991-06-18
  Pedro Herrera appeals his conviction for second degree murder and cocaine possession, contending the trial court erred by failing to conduct a Richardson hearing regarding the state's alleged failure to disclose fingerprint evidence obtained immediately before trial. The appellat
• Medina v. J.P. Keane
  936 F.2d 681· 2d Cir.· 1991-06-17
  The admission of a post-arrest statement, even if obtained in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, can constitute harmless error if there is no reasonable possibility that it contributed to the conviction.
• Woodard v. State
  579 So. 2d 875· Fla. 1st DCA· 1991-05-23
  The court held that the trial court did not err in excluding the codefendant's hearsay statement and that the prosecutor's comments during closing argument did not constitute fundamental error.
• Derral Wynn v. State
  580 So. 2d 807· Fla. 3d DCA· 1991-05-14
  Derral Wynn appeals his convictions for petit theft, battery, and resisting arrest with violence. The court reverses all three convictions: the theft conviction because the trial court failed to instruct the jury on the defendant's good-faith belief that he owned the property, an
• Wesley v. State
  578 So. 2d 418· Fla. 4th DCA· 1991-04-17
  The court reversed the habitual felony offender sentence because all prior convictions occurred on the same date, failing to meet the sequential conviction requirement, and remanded for resentencing within guidelines while correcting time-served credits.
• Griffin v. Davies
  929 F.2d 550· 10th Cir.· 1991-03-29
  The court held that the trial judge's excessive admonitions to a prosecution witness did not violate the petitioner's due process rights because the witness testified and the testimony was not rendered less material or favorable due to the judge's actions.
• Gregory v. State
  573 So. 2d 73· Fla. 4th DCA· 1990-12-28
  Willie Gregory was retried for aggravated assault after his first conviction was overturned due to lack of counsel. At retrial, the state introduced the victim's testimony from the first trial (when Gregory was unrepresented) without the victim appearing in person, depriving Greg
• Heggs v. State
  572 So. 2d 991· Fla. 2d DCA· 1990-12-21
  Kelvin Heggs was convicted of second-degree murder with a firearm in the shooting death of Danny Redden. The Florida appellate court reversed his conviction and remanded for a new trial because the trial court improperly prohibited cross-examination regarding statements made duri
• LeFLEUR v. State
  569 So. 2d 1383· Fla. 4th DCA· 1990-11-28
• Johnson v. State OF Md.
  915 F.2d 892· 4th Cir.· 1990-10-01
  The dissenting judge believes a new trial was warranted due to insufficient inquiry into potential racial prejudice among jurors.
• Laidley v. Lantz McCLAIN
  914 F.2d 1386· 10th Cir.· 1990-09-13
  The court held that the notice of appeal was insufficient to confer jurisdiction for most plaintiffs, but a genuine issue of material fact existed regarding whether one plaintiff was terminated due to political activity, precluding summary judgment for that plaintiff against the
• Parker v. State
  564 So. 2d 232· Fla. 5th DCA· 1990-07-12
  The court held that the trial court's erroneous exclusion of defense evidence was not harmless error because the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not contribute to the conviction.
• Miles R. Williams, Jr. v. State
  564 So. 2d 199· Fla. 1st DCA· 1990-07-03
  The court held that the trial court did not err in admitting the appellant's statements and that sufficient evidence supported the conviction.
• S.N. v. State
  563 So. 2d 202· Fla. 3d DCA· 1990-06-26
  The court held that the defendant's objection was not properly preserved for appeal and, even if it were, the error was harmless.
• Davis v. State
  562 So. 2d 443· Fla. 2d DCA· 1990-06-20
  Danny Davis appealed his convictions for sale of cocaine and possession with intent to sell. The court affirmed the sale conviction but reversed the possession conviction under Carawan v. State, holding that charges arising from a single act allow conviction only for the sale off
• United States v. Hill
  901 F.2d 880· 10th Cir.· 1990-04-24
  The admission of a nontestifying codefendant's confession that implicates the defendant violates the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confrontation, and such error is not harmless if the evidence against the defendant is not overwhelming.
• United States v. Taylor
  900 F.2d 779· 4th Cir.· 1990-04-10
  The court held that the government improperly bolstered the credibility of its paid informant with inadmissible extrinsic evidence and improper jury argument, and that evidence regarding the reason the defendant was targeted was irrelevant and prejudicial.
• Almertis Stephens v. State
  559 So. 2d 687· Fla. 1st DCA· 1990-04-05
  Almertis Stephens appealed his conviction for armed robbery, aggravated assault, and assault, challenging the prosecution's use of peremptory challenges to exclude Black jurors, alleging a comment on his right to silence, and disputing his sentencing guidelines calculation. The a
• Fricke v. State
  561 So. 2d 597· Fla. 3d DCA· 1990-04-03
  William Fricke appeals his conviction for sexual battery and lewd and lascivious assault of a six-year-old child. The court reverses and remands because the trial court violated Fricke's Sixth Amendment right to confrontation by allowing the child victim to testify via closed-cir
• Scott v. State
  559 So. 2d 269· Fla. 4th DCA· 1990-03-28
  Nelson Scott appealed his conviction for cocaine trafficking, arguing eight points of error. The Fourth District Court of Appeal found merit in two issues—the admission of prejudicial videotape audio containing deputies' inflammatory comments about drug dealing and the improper a
• United States v. Longbehn
  898 F.2d 635· 8th Cir.· 1990-03-14
  The appellate court affirmed the district court's judgment and sentence, finding no reversible error in the admission of evidence, jury instructions, search warrants, or sentencing.
• Dupont v. State
  556 So. 2d 457· Fla. 4th DCA· 1990-01-31
  David DuPont was convicted of battery arising from a fistfight with the victim. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the conviction because the trial court improperly admitted rebuttal testimony about an unrelated verbal threat DuPont allegedly made in an elevator months
• Abbott v. Parke
  893 F.2d 868· 6th Cir.· 1990-01-16
  The admission of Abbott's statements, obtained after he invoked his Sixth Amendment right to counsel, was not harmless error and violated his constitutional rights.
• Brown v. Dixon
  891 F.2d 490· 4th Cir.· 1989-12-11
  A state may use peremptory challenges to exclude jurors with reservations about the death penalty, and a defense attorney's concessions of guilt and aggravating circumstances during the penalty phase, given the jury's prior guilty verdict, can constitute reasonable advocacy.
• Polsky v. Patton
  890 F.2d 647· 3d Cir.· 1989-11-30
  The court held that the omission of the word 'malice' from jury instructions on murder did not violate due process, as the instructions conveyed the essential elements of the crime and any errors were harmless or in the defendant's favor.
• McGRIFF v. State
  553 So. 2d 232· Fla. 1st DCA· 1989-11-15
  McGriff appealed his conviction for second-degree murder and armed burglary and robbery, challenging the trial court's ex parte communications with jurors during deliberations. The court affirmed, finding that although the judge erred in meeting with jurors without the defendant'
• Major Crane v. Sowders
  889 F.2d 715· 6th Cir.· 1989-11-14
  The court held that the exclusion of evidence regarding the circumstances of a confession, which was central to the defense of a sixteen-year-old defendant, was not harmless error because it deprived the defendant of his constitutional right to present a defense.
• Eliassaint Mathieu v. State
  552 So. 2d 1157· Fla. 3d DCA· 1989-11-07
  Eliassaint Mathieu appealed his conviction for armed robbery, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial after testimony inadvertently revealed that non-testifying eyewitnesses had identified him by name, violating his Sixth Amendment right of confronta
• Dade Cnty. Pub. Health Tr. v. Parker
  551 So. 2d 532· Fla. 3d DCA· 1989-09-19
  Jackson Memorial Hospital appeals a negligence verdict entered after a patient fell from a hospital stretcher in the emergency room. The appellate court reversed the judgment, finding that the trial court committed reversible error in admitting hospital incident reports and evide
• Snethen v. Crispus NIX
  885 F.2d 456· 8th Cir.· 1989-09-15
  The court affirmed the denial of the habeas petition, finding no violation of federal constitutional rights regarding the admission of the psychiatrist's testimony, the inculpatory statements made after requesting counsel, or the sufficiency of evidence for sanity.
• Darrick A. Rogers v. Norris W. McMACKIN
  884 F.2d 252· 6th Cir.· 1989-08-28
  The admission of a nontestifying co-defendant's confession in a bench trial does not violate the Confrontation Clause if the judge is capable of compartmentalizing the evidence and not using it against the defendant.
• Quinn v. State
  549 So. 2d 208· Fla. 2d DCA· 1989-08-18
  Thomas Jerome Quinn appeals his DUI manslaughter conviction after being struck by the trial court's refusal to allow a defense expert witness to testify about blood-alcohol analysis using different testing methods. The court reversed, finding that the trial judge abused its discr
• Busch v. State
  547 So. 2d 245· Fla. 4th DCA· 1989-07-19
  Ruth Busch was convicted of DWI-Manslaughter after a fatal automobile accident. The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal found that the trial court's jury instruction on intoxication created an unconstitutional mandatory rebuttable presumption that shifted the burden to the de
• Jordan v. State
  546 So. 2d 48· Fla. 4th DCA· 1989-06-28
  Curtis Lee Jordan appeals his conviction, arguing that trial testimony about his post-arrest silence violated his Fifth Amendment rights and constituted reversible error. The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal holds that while the testimony was constitutional error, it was h
• Skipper v. State
  537 So. 2d 1138· Fla. 5th DCA· 1989-02-09
  Howard Skipper was convicted of sexual battery on a child after a jury trial. The appellate court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the trial court erred in excluding defense evidence that the victim had previously engaged in sexual intercourse with others, beca
• Cambridge v. Duckworth
  859 F.2d 526· 7th Cir.· 1988-10-07
  The court held that the inadvertent mention of a withdrawn guilty plea, followed by a curative instruction, did not violate the defendant's due process rights or Fifth Amendment privilege, and any error was harmless.
• Mann v. Oklahoma
  488 U.S. 877· U.S.· 1988-10-03
• United States v. Cole
  857 F.2d 971· 4th Cir.· 1988-09-29
• Davis v. State OF Tenn. & Larry Lack
  856 F.2d 35· 6th Cir.· 1988-09-02
  A jury instruction error regarding malice is harmless when a conviction is based on the felony murder rule, as malice is automatically supplied in such cases.