Hopewell v. State

The defendant appeals the revocation of his probation. He contends, and the state concedes, that the evidence presented was insufficient to establish that his probation violations were willful. We agree and reverse.

The state has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that probation violations are willful. Love v. State, 606 So.2d 755 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992). However, in this case, the state failed to call the defendant’s probation officer or introduce any evidence to satisfy this burden. The only evidence presented was the defendant’s sworn testimony that he did not intentionally…