Appellate court agrees: Defendant in robbery case should get a new trial
The 5th District Court of Appeal has agreed with Circuit Judge Peter Brigham's decision to grant a new trial for a man who had been convicted in May 2022 of robbery with a firearm and principal to burglary of a conveyance while armed.
The ruling was announced Jan. 2 by the appellate court without any written opinion.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie said it's his office's intention to move forward with retrying the case.
James W. Smith, representing the man charged with the crime, calls the decision by the appellate court "a big win." He said it's "good for the young man," who "doesn't have a conviction and he's free." The lawyer said: "What the prosecution did was improper."
Defense lawyer's challenge
Following Darryn Robert Lake's conviction, Smith filed a motion for a new trial. This came before his client's sentencing hearing, which had been set for September 2022.
In the motion, Smith referenced the initial questioning of a 19-year-old Black man during the jury selection process. The man "did not disclose any information that provided the basis for challenge for cause," Smith wrote.
Nevertheless, Smith said, the "State used a peremptory challenge on this juror."
Smith noted that the prosecutor offered "a race-neutral basis" for the strike — namely, that the potential juror and defendant attended the same high school, where the defendant was a football star. (Lake had played football for Vanguard High School.)
In his motion, Smith said the prosecutor was intending to "strike another potential juror for the same reason. This other potential juror was a young male who was not African American but was a racial minority."
The defense also argued that white potential jurors were not asked the same questions. He said the lone Black juror was not asked if he "would be unable to be fair and impartial juror."
"It should also be noted that the juror was asked if he knew any parties in the case and stated on the record that he did not," Smith said in his motion.
Lake, who is Black, faced an all-white jury, which "raises the prospect that he did not receive a fair trial," according to Smith's motion.
It's unknown when there will be a new trial. Lake's next court hearing is a pre-trial conference and it's scheduled for March.
Lake, 26, of Ocala, is presently free on bond.
Life: Dismayed defendant asks Ocala judge to reconsider. But the sentence sticks: life in prison
Law enforcement officials arrested Lake and Kenvonte Lamar Daniel, now 26, of Ocala, in the robbery case. In 2022, Brigham sentenced Daniel to probation.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: New trial ordered for man convicted of robbery and burglary
