Gutierrez-Toledo v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledSeptember 18, 2026
Docket2D2025-0556
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
DANNI DARIO GUTIERREZ-TOLEDO,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
No. 2D2025-0556
September 18, 2026
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pinellas County; Joseph A. Bulone,
Judge.
Blair Allen, Public Defender, and Megan Banfield, Assistant Public
Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Taylor Anne Schell,
Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
SLEET, Judge.
Danni Dario Gutierrez-Toledo appeals from his judgment and
sentence for sexual battery. He was convicted following a jury trial, and
the trial court sentenced him to twelve years' prison. We affirm.
Gutierrez-Toledo first argues on appeal that the trial court erred by
excluding certain testimony at trial. We find no merit to this argument
and comment on it no further.
Gutierrez-Toledo also argues on appeal that the trial court
committed fundamental error by allowing him to be tried for a noncapital
offense using a six-person jury.1 He maintains that section 913.10,
Florida Statutes—which provides that "[t]welve persons shall constitute a
jury to try all capital cases, and six persons shall constitute a jury to try
all other criminal cases"—is unconstitutional on its face. We conclude,
however, that Gutierrez-Toledo has failed to demonstrate any error, let
alone fundamental error, with regard to this argument. See Serrano-
Delgado v. State, 392 So. 3d 251, 253 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024) ("In Williams v.
Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 86 (Fla. 1970), the United States Supreme Court
held that Florida's use of a six-person jury does not violate the Sixth or
Fourteenth Amendment. The Court reasoned that no historical evidence
shows that a twelve-person jury was an indispensable component of the
Sixth Amendment or that the Framers intended to require a twelve-
person jury. Williams is binding precedent and 'indisputably remains
good law.' " (citation omitted) (quoting Simpson v. State, 368 So. 3d 513,
520 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023) (Pratt, J., concurring))); see also Jack v. State,
349 So. 3d 925, 927 (Fla. 1st DCA 2022) ("[N]o fundamental error
occurred when [a]ppellant was tried and convicted by a six-person jury
on noncapital charges.").
Affirmed.
ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM and SMITH, JJ., Concur.
Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
1 The United States Supreme Court has recently granted a petition
for writ of certiorari to review this issue in Kian v. State, 421 So. 3d 439
(Fla. 4th DCA 2025) (table decision), cert. granted, No. 25-6623, 2026 WL
1718018 (U.S June 15, 2026).
2