Wink was a former school teacher and a former political candidate before he became a citrus felon. He insisted the orange was “squishy” and wanted to “give it to the birds and the squirrels. I just lobbed it over the edge.”
However, the police investigated and concluded “the orange was found not rotten but ripe.” Call it CSI Florida.
So let me try to recap. Wink threw an orange that did not hit anyone, but was charged as aggravated assault because it was only ripe but not rotten.
Here is the Florida criminal provision:
784.021 Aggravated assault.–
(1) An “aggravated assault” is an assault:
(a) With a deadly weapon without intent to kill; or
(b) With an intent to commit a felony.
(2) Whoever commits an aggravated assault shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
Since an orange is not a deadly weapon to anything other than a cold, there must be an intent to commit a felony, but what is the felony? If the felony is battery with an orange, it becomes rather circular. I suppose if his boxers were Fruit of the Loom, he might be charged with terroristic threats of additional citrus attacks.
I am curious about the chain of custody on the orange. Since the arrest appeared to turn on condition of the orange, did the police preserve the weapon for defense examination? The condition of the orange could also turn on differences in what constitutes “squishy.” For example, I am notorious for disliking soft fruit. On a jury, I would likely be inclined to view fruit as “squishy” at a point much earlier than Port Lucie officer. Would I be struck on voir dire for my hard fruit bias?
Source: WPBF as first seen on Reddit