{"id":195,"date":"2017-12-20T10:49:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T15:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=195"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:18:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:18:46","slug":"prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors\u2019 Burden of Proof in Florida Auto Theft Cases \u2013 VG v. State"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most important things that anyone charged with a Florida theft crime should know is that the burden is at all times on prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the crime. That means they have to prove more than just a hunch, and they have to do more than show that you probably committed the crime. As the state\u2019s Second District Court of Appeals recently explained, that means in auto theft<\/a> cases that prosecutors have to show that the car in which the person charged was caught is the car that was stolen.One afternoon in May 2016, a man drove a silver Dodge Dart to his aunt\u2019s house in Tampa. He came to retrieve some paperwork from his cousin. He left keys in the car \u2013 a rental \u2013 along with his cell phone, his wallet, and a bag of clothes. He also left the car windows down. The car was gone when he returned a few minutes later. He contacted police but wasn\u2019t able to remember the vehicle\u2019s license plate number.<\/p>\n

The following night, a Tampa police officer observed a silver Dodge Dart roll through a stop sign, make a quick lane change, and make several quick turns before running another couple of stop signs. The three people inside the car \u2013 two men and one woman \u2013 jumped out and started running away when the officer approached. The officer eventually apprehended the woman, identified in court documents as \u201cVG.\u201d She was arrested and charged with grand theft auto and burglary, among other charges.<\/p>\n

VG appealed the conviction, arguing that prosecutors never proved that the car from which she fled was the same vehicle that was stolen from the man. She said she didn\u2019t know who owned the car and simply fled because the man behind the wheel said \u201cwe gotta jump out.\u201d VG\u2019s lawyer also pointed out that the prosecutors did not match the car\u2019s license plate or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) with the rental car. The Second District agreed.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most important things that anyone charged with a Florida theft crime should know is that the burden is at all times on prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the crime. That means they have to prove more than just a hunch, and they have to do more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-theft"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida Auto Theft: Burden of Proof<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Facing auto theft charges in Florida? Learn what prosecutors must prove and how weak proof can help your defense.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Florida Auto Theft: Burden of Proof\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Facing auto theft charges in Florida? Learn what prosecutors must prove and how weak proof can help your defense.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Auto Theft: Burden of Proof","description":"Facing auto theft charges in Florida? Learn what prosecutors must prove and how weak proof can help your defense.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Florida Auto Theft: Burden of Proof","twitter_description":"Facing auto theft charges in Florida? Learn what prosecutors must prove and how weak proof can help your defense.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"headline":"Prosecutors\u2019 Burden of Proof in Florida Auto Theft Cases \u2013 VG v. State","datePublished":"2017-12-20T15:49:18+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T13:18:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/"},"wordCount":576,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp","articleSection":["Car Theft"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/","name":"Florida Auto Theft: Burden of Proof","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp","datePublished":"2017-12-20T15:49:18+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T13:18:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"description":"Facing auto theft charges in Florida? Learn what prosecutors must prove and how weak proof can help your defense.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"Masked person in jacket leaning at drivers window, symbolizing Florida auto theft case and disputed evidence"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/prosecutors-burden-proof-florida-auto-theft-cases-vg-v-state\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Prosecutors\u2019 Burden of Proof in Florida Auto Theft Cases \u2013 VG v. State"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/","name":"Tampa Criminal Lawyer Blog","description":"Published by Tampa Criminal Attorney \u2014 Hanlon Law","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837","name":"Hanlon Law, PA","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c09dcc7ad49cb4e69012e689c8f8279e82819db3eccff0cdeeccdacb7210dc98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c09dcc7ad49cb4e69012e689c8f8279e82819db3eccff0cdeeccdacb7210dc98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c09dcc7ad49cb4e69012e689c8f8279e82819db3eccff0cdeeccdacb7210dc98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hanlon Law, PA"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/florida-auto-theft-burden-proof.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1861,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions\/1861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}