Batten v. State

WALLACE, Judge.

Lebert F. Batten challenges the judgments and concurrent sentences of five years’ imprisonment on each count imposed on him after a jury found him guilty of grand theft, a violation of section 812.014(2)(c)(2), Florida Statutes (1999), and odometer fraud, a violation of section 319.35(l)(c), Florida Statutes (1999). The State introduced Williams1 rule evidence at Batten’s trial consisting of twenty-five classified ads he placed in The St. Peters-burg Times for the sale of various automobiles. The State relied heavily on this evidence in its closing arguments to the jury as…