Wednesday, August 26, 2002
State of Florida v. Jose Abreu

no.01-2596

Broward County



Abreu was charged with the February 1998 burglary of a dwelling. At his first trial, the state's main eyewitness was Jeffrey Eckman, who had left Florida and moved to Philadelphia. The first trial ended in a hung jury. At the second trial, Eckman would not return to testify, so the trial judge permitted his earlier testimony to be read to the jury under an exception to the hearsay rule. On appeal, the Fourth District reversed on grounds that exception to the rule applied only if the witness was genuinely unavailable.