Garcia v. StateGarcia v. State
Appellant Casimiro Garcia was found guilty of possessing on March 14,1977 more than five grams of marijuana. On appeal he contends that the court erred in admitting, over timely objection, the testimony of
Appellant took the witness stand in his own behalf. He testified that several days prior to the date on which the contraband was discovered in his automobile he had loaned the vehicle to a friend, that the man he had loaned the automobile to did not return it, that after a few days appellant found it abandoned between Naples and Immoklee, and that he hot wired it and drove it to Naples where his brother had an ignition key made. After the attorney for appellant announced that the defense rested, the state indicated that it would like to call as a rebuttal witness Officer Raymond Bass of the Collier County Sheriff’s Department who had testified in the state’s case in chief. Appellant’s counsel objected to the introduction of testimony proffered by the state pertaining to sale of marijuana in March 1976 by appellant which was wholly independent of and unrelated to the offense at issue. The trial court overruled the objection.
Such testimony cannot be said to be rebuttal testimony and did not rebut appellant’s testimony concerning the custody and control of the automobile in this case. The objectionable testimony showed only his propensity to sell marijuana and, therefore, it was inadmissible under the holding of Williams v. State,
Accordingly, the judgment and sentence are reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court for a new trial.