Kenney v. State
The Second District held that the trial court erred in admitting a videorecording and a deputy's testimony recounting the victim-witness's prior inconsistent statement, and erred further in letting the State argue the jury could use that unsworn statement as substantive evidence of guilt, citing Pearce v. State and Moore v. State. Nevertheless, because defense counsel's objections at trial did not raise these specific grounds and the issue was not argued as fundamental error on appeal, the court affirmed the conviction, doing so expressly without prejudice to a Rule 3.850 motion.
Key facts
- Appellant Kenney was convicted in trial court after the State introduced a videorecording and deputy testimony recounting a victim-witness's prior inconsistent statement.
- The trial court permitted the State to argue the jury could use the unsworn prior statement as substantive evidence of guilt.
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Why it matters
This opinion is a useful reminder for both trial and appellate criminal practitioners about the strict preservation requirements for objecting to improper impeachment-turned-substantive-evidence use of prior… — full analysis with a trial
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