Mr. Russell was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a trial judge concluded he had violated his probation in two earlier cases by committing a battery on his pregnant girl-friend. The evidence was a written and signed statement of the girl-friend and the observation by police that the woman had a red mark on her neck. Mr. Russell was later acquitted of the substantive charge. He appealed the probation issue to the Fifth District Court of Appeal, arguing hearsay evidence was not enough to prove he had violated his probation. The 5th DCA upheld the trial court, but two other District Courts of Appeal in Florida have ruled in similar cases that hearsay evidence and observation of an injury are not enough to prove probation has been violated.