JOHNSON v. STATE (2024)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

Timothy Lavon JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 1D2023-1266

Decided: September 11, 2024

Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Kasey Helms Lacey, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Miranda Lee Butson, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Timothy Lavon Johnson appeals his conviction for manslaughter following a jury trial. He argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal and that it gave the jury erroneous instructions. We find that the trial court properly denied his motion without further comment and write only to address the second issue.

Johnson did not object to the jury instructions below, so we are confined to review his claim only for fundamental error. State v. Delva, 575 So. 2d 643, 644–45 (Fla. 1991). Because Johnson challenges jury instructions, which he proposed, we need not reach the merits. When an appellant's counsel has requested the instruction challenged on appeal, that instruction cannot constitute fundamental error, because any error in the instruction was invited. Baptiste v. State, 324 So. 3d 453, 456 (Fla. 2021). We therefore affirm.

Affirmed.

Per Curiam.

Osterhaus, C.J., and M.K. Thomas and Long, JJ., concur.

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