De'Orrick Knots vs State of Florida
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FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________ No. 1D18-476 _____________________________ DE’ORRICK KNOTS, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. _____________________________ On appeal from the Circuit Court for Leon County. Robert R. Wheeler, Judge. December 20, 2019 PER CURIAM. De’Orrick Knots appeals his two convictions for attempted second degree murder, arguing that multiple evidentiary errors occurred during his trial, the cumulative effect of which amounts to reversible error. We agree that evidentiary errors occurred, the most obvious being non-admissible hearsay testimony of an officer who described a non-testifying 911 caller’s inculpatory statements about appellant’s involvement in the shootings. See Keen v. State, 775 So. 2d 263, 274 (Fla. 2000) (concluding that officer’s testimony, purporting to explain the police investigation but containing prejudicial third party statements of non-testifying witnesses, was improper hearsay “even though the proponent of such evidence seeks to clothe such hearsay under a nonhearsay label”). A review of the full record, however, shows that these errors were harmless, primarily due to the testimony of two eye-witnesses (one a victim of the shooting who had been a friend of Knots) that Knots got a weapon from a car and opened fire. See Dixon v. State, 589 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). AFFIRMED. WOLF, ROBERTS, and MAKAR, JJ., concur. _____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331. _____________________________ Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Victor Holder, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Damaris E. Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee. 2
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