Implications of Huck Case Ruling RE: duct tape on nose and mouth

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Bobbisangel

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I found this on another site...it is great!


Fl. appeals court shoots down most of defense arguments

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We found a case that is on point in the Florida criminal cases, that involves a ME not being able to say for certain how the victim died, and also involves duct tape.

Perry v. State, 801 So. 2d 78, 84 (Fla.
2001); State v. Law, 559 So. 2d 187, 189 (Fla. 1989). "
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FIFTH DISTRICT
JULY TERM 2004
BRENT ROBERT HUCK,
Appellant,
v.
CASE NO. 5D03-1906

STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
___________________________________/
Opinion filed July 16, 2004
Appeal from the Circuit Court
for Brevard County,
David Dugan, Judge.
Gregory W. Eisenmenger and Robert R. Berry of
Eisenmenger, Berry & Peters, Melbourne, for
Appellant.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee,
and Kellie A. Nielan, Assistant Attorney General,
Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
MONACO, J.
Brent Robert Huck appeals his convictions for the kidnapping and felony murder of his
former girlfriend, Misty Morse.

www.romingerlegal.com/floridacourts
__________________

"At trial the medical examiner testified that because of the condition of the body, he was not "one hundred percent" certain of the cause of death. In his opinion, however, the victim
died "within a reasonable degree of probability" from asphyxia either by the tape on her nose and mouth or from drowning. " Interesting that they did not need to prove exactly, or be married to one particular cause of death.

. "The State is not required to rebut conclusively every possible variation of events that could be inferred from the
evidence. Rather, it is the State's obligation to introduce competent substantial evidence that is inconsistent with the defendant's theory of events". Perry v. State, 801 So. 2d 78, 84 (Fla.
2001); State v. Law, 559 So. 2d 187, 189 (Fla. 1989). "
Someone better send this to the defense.

Also, from Huck's attempt to appeal, and say the duct tape did not prove anything - the FL Supreme Court had this to say:
"More importantly, the assertion that Mr. Huck taped the victim's eyes and mouth shut after she died is not particularly reasonable. The only logical reason to tape her eyes and mouth shut would have been to prevent her from seeing, talking, screaming for help, or breathing while she was alive. There is no logical or reasonable purpose for taping a person's eyes and mouth shut after she is dead."
__________________
"The only logical reason to tape her eyes and mouth shut would have been to prevent her from seeing, talking, screaming for help, or breathing while she was alive." FL appeals court
 
Don't worry, that is my post I just posted today and many members here, Muzikman, for example have been discussing the Huck case, a long while go and yesterday. It is a fascinating case in relation to Casey's.


I'm so glad that you didn't get upset! I just had to bring it over here because it is so important. I got excited reading it because the same thing could happen in this case and just to know that there is a case that has been through the courts and won gave me some peace. I don't want anything to happen that could keep her from getting LWOP or the DP. Thanks again.
 
Just one tiny itty bitty "fly in the ointment": the ME in the Misty Morse homicide case had tape and a body with organ systems to r/o other manners of death, both natural and unnatural vs the Caylee Anthony homicide case where the bones and the tape have to tell the tale! Thus, Caylee's case has to be undetermined.
 
I think we have a thread with quite a few references to Huck. Let me see about getting those merged.
 
I was hoping this could be used in her trial, but AZLawyer shot me down on that. :(


But on appeals, it could come into play.
 
I was hoping this could be used in her trial, but AZLawyer shot me down on that. :(


But on appeals, it could come into play.


But you gotta admit - it was pretty exciting for a few minutes before that!:dance:
 
I think it is still exciting because it can be used on appeal if it should be needed. I can see Baez doing just that if the duct tape is used as the method of murder.
 
don't we have like a thousand threads on this?
 
don't we have like a thousand threads on this?

We have 23 threads that have posts within them discussing it briefly. Letting this be the Huck Magnet thread for the time being...
 
Just to reiterate what I've said before:

What the Huck court was saying was that it was OK for the jury in that case to decide that there was no reasonable doubt that the duct tape was placed for the purpose of killing the victim--not that the jury was required to come to that conclusion. I am certain that the Fla. appellate courts would also say that it would be OK for a jury to decide that there WAS a reasonable doubt about why duct tape was applied. The point is that this is the kind of thing that jurors, not appellate judges, are given the power to decide.

So...if Casey loses the trial, and then appeals based on the argument that the jury was REQUIRED to find a reasonable doubt because the duct tape might have been placed for some other purpose, she will lose because of the Huck opinion. But if the jury ACTUALLY finds reasonable doubt because the duct tape could have been placed to stage a kidnapping or to stem decomp, nothing about Huck would prevent the jury from coming to that conclusion.
 
As I have said before, the most interesting thing about the Huck case to me was that while the ME could not say with medical certainty what the cause of death was, he was able to get on the stand and give his expert opinion. This is one of the things that I am waiting for in this case.

also lets try and keep this thread civil , seems every time we go down this road the thread gets closed. thanks in advance.
 
Closing thread so that we now have the "Huck Case" topic covered in an easy-to-find, brief, made from 100% post-consumer-recyclable-electrons thread.
 
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