Mervin BROWN, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
*730 Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Alan R. Dakan, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Susan Minor, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Michael A. Vandetty, Legal Intern, for appellee.
Before BARKDULL, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.
DANIEL S. PEARSON, Judge.
Mervin Brown contends that we should overturn his robbery conviction because the trial court allowed the State to prove in its case in chief that Brown was not, as he had stated in a voluntary post-arrest interview, employed by a certain concern on the date of the robbery. He flatly tells us that where the State elicits from its own witness the defendant's alibi, the State may not impeach that alibi unless and until the defendant adopts it or has an opportunity to deny or explain his statement. We just as flatly disagree.
Evidence of a defendant's acts or statements calculated to defeat or avoid his prosecution is admissible against him as showing consciousness of guilt. See, e.g., Mackiewicz v. State,
The evidence in the present case was not introduced to impeach Brown, but to show that Brown lied about his whereabouts on the day of the crime. This was substantive evidence tending to prove Brown's guilt and was admissible in the State's case in chief. United States v. Merrill,
Brown's remaining points on appeal have been considered and found to be without merit.
Affirmed.
