District Court of Appeal of Florida

The element "uses a deadly weapon" in the aggravated battery statute means using the weapon to commit the touching that constitutes the battery. A conviction for burglary with a battery and aggravated battery with a knife is reversed where defendant's possession of a knife was insufficient to satisfy the requirement that he was using a deadly weapon while committing a battery, and further, the prosecutor's comment to defendant during cross-examination -- that they had never spoken before -- was, on the specific facts of this case, a comment on his silence which required a new trial.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/06/2006
• Published 12/06/2006

Judges

• KLEIN, J.

Court

• District Court of Appeal of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Marcy K. Allen, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and James J. Carney, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.