Dean Kenneth Rockmore v. State of Florida, 140 So. 3d 979

Rockmore was charged with robbery with a firearm for stealing shirts and socks from Walmart; loss prevention pursued him and he displayed a gun during the chase, allegedly threatening the officer; Rockmore claimed he abandoned the stolen merchandise before any threat or use of force; he advised the court he had abandoned the property and argued this defense precludes robbery under the continuous-series element; the trial court instructed on abandonment as approved in Peterson but with a victim-awareness modification; the jury convicted Rockmore of robbery with a firearm and life imprisonment as a PRR; the Fifth District affirmed, finding abandonment not applicable and the trial error harmless; the Court reviews the abandonment defense in light of Florida robbery statutes and related case law.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether judgment of acquittal was proper	Rockmore argued abandonment breaks the chain of taking and force	Rockmore contends abandonment negates robbery as a continuous-series crime	Denied; substantial evidence supported robbery with a firearm
Whether the abandonment instruction modification was reversible error	Rockmore asserts the victim-awareness addition was erroneous	Rockmore argues the modification misstates law	Harmless error; no new trial required
Whether abandonment defense applies to these facts	Rockmore contends abandonment was supported by evidence	State asserts no abandonment under the facts	Not applicable to this case; abandonment defense does not apply given the evidence and sequence of events
Resolution of conflict with Peterson v. State	Rockmore would have benefited from Peterson-style instruction	State distinguishes Peterson on facts	Court approves Fifth District; Peterson not controlling here; abandonment defense not extended.

Peterson v. State, 24 So.3d 686 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (recognizes abandonment defense requires special instruction when evidence supports abandonment before force)
Garcia v. State, 614 So.2d 568 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993) (reverses robbery where abandonment occurred before threatening/using force)
Simmons v. State, 551 So.2d 607 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989) (reverses where force occurs after abandonment)
Baker v. State, 540 So.2d 847 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (dismissal where taking occurred without force and abandonment preceded force)
Peterson v. State, 24 So.3d 686 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (authored abandonment defense as correct statement of law in conflict)
State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla. 1986) (harmless error standard for trial-court instructional error)