{"id":701,"date":"2021-01-22T16:10:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T21:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=701"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:26:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:26:39","slug":"court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Discusses Proving Theft Under Florida Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many crimes, including theft, contain an element of intent. In other words, the State must show that a defendant charged with an intent crime possessed the required mental state at the time the offense was committed; otherwise, the defendant should not be convicted. The evidence needed to demonstrate intent in a case in which a defendant is charged with theft was the topic of a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/edca.4dca.org\/DCADocs\/2019\/2274\/192274_DC05_01062021_095933_i.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Florida opinion<\/a>, in a matter in which the defendant appealed his convictions for numerous crimes. If you are accused of theft or any other offense, it is in your best interest to talk to a knowledgeable Tampa theft defense attorney regarding your rights.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Alleged Crimes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is reported that on the night of the Super Bowl in 2017, the defendant, a friend, and the victim went to the victim\u2019s house to search for ammunition and guns. They discussed seeking revenge on another person who burglarized the defendant\u2019s. The following night, the victim was sitting outside when he heard gunshots. He then saw individuals get into the friend&#8217;s car. The car was later stopped by the police, and the defendant fell out of the backseat, reporting he had been shot.<\/p>\n<p>Allegedly, the defendant\u2019s blood and belongings were found inside of a car that had been stolen and abandoned on the highway. Surveillance video later revealed that three individuals were shot and killed in the victim\u2019s backyard, including the person that the defendant sought revenge against, and the defendant\u2019s car was parked nearby. The defendant was charged with and convicted of multiple homicide crimes and grand theft auto. During the trial, he moved for acquittal on the theft charge, but the court denied his motion. He appealed, arguing in part that the State did not prove he required the specific intent needed to commit theft.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/#more-701\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many crimes, including theft, contain an element of intent. In other words, the State must show that a defendant charged with an intent crime possessed the required mental state at the time the offense was committed; otherwise, the defendant should not be convicted. The evidence needed to demonstrate intent in a case in which a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-theft"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Proving Theft Under Florida Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Facing theft charges? Learn what Florida must prove to convict you and how intent and value can change your charge and penalties.\" \/>\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\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Proving Theft Under Florida Law\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Facing theft charges? Learn what Florida must prove to convict you and how intent and value can change your charge and penalties.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gun-bullets-cash-theft-evidence.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":"Proving Theft Under Florida Law","description":"Facing theft charges? 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Learn what Florida must prove to convict you and how intent and value can change your charge and penalties.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gun-bullets-cash-theft-evidence.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\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"headline":"Court Discusses Proving Theft Under Florida Law","datePublished":"2021-01-22T21:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T15:26:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/"},"wordCount":569,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gun-bullets-cash-theft-evidence.webp","articleSection":["Car Theft"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/","name":"Proving Theft Under Florida Law","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-discusses-proving-theft-under-florida-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gun-bullets-cash-theft-evidence.webp","datePublished":"2021-01-22T21:10:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T15:26:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"description":"Facing theft charges? 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