IN RE: STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES—REPORT 2018-03. (2018)

The Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases (Committee) has submitted proposed changes to the standard jury instructions and asks that the Court authorize the amended standard instructions. We have jurisdiction and authorize the amendments to the instructions for publication and use. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.

The Committee proposes amending the following existing instructions: 20.13 (Fraudulent Use or Possession with Intent to Fraudulently Use Personal Identification Information); 20.14 (Harassment by Use of Personal Identification Information); 20.15 (Fraudulent Use of Personal Identification Information of a [Minor] [Person Sixty Years of Age or Older] ); 20.16 (Fraudulent Use of Personal Identification Information of a [Minor] [Person Sixty Years of Age or Older] by a Parent, Guardian, or Person who Exercised Custodial Authority); 20.17 (Fraudulent Use or Possession with Intent to Fraudulently Use Personal Identification Information Concerning a [Deceased Individual] [Dissolved Business Entity] ); 20.18 ( [Fraudulent Creation of] [Fraudulent Use of] [Possession with Intent to Fraudulently Use] Counterfeit Personal Identification Information); and 20.21 (Fraudulent Use of Personal Identification Information of a [Disabled Adult] [Public Servant] [Veteran] [First Responder] [State Employee] [Federal Employee] ). The Committee published the proposals in the January 1, 2018, issue of The Florida Bar News. No comments were received by the Committee pertaining to the proposals. The more significant amendments to the instructions are discussed below.

Criminal jury instructions 20.13 (Fraudulent Use or Possession with Intent to Fraudulently Use Personal Identification Information), 20.14 (Harassment by Use of Personal Identification Information), 20.17 (Fraudulent Use or Possession with Intent to Fraudulently Use Personal Identification Information Concerning a [Deceased Individual] [Dissolved Business Entity] ), and 20.18 ( [Fraudulent Creation of] [Fraudulent Use of] [Possession with Intent to Fraudulently Use] Counterfeit Personal Identification Information) are amended to include a provision explaining the term “possession” that was previously authorized for criminal jury instructions 16.10 and 25.7 in In re Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases—Report 2017-03, 238 So.3d 182 (Fla. 2018).

For all of the amended instructions, the Committee created a separate section for the reclassification provided in section 817.568(5), Florida Statutes (2017), which provides that if a crime under the statute was facilitated or furthered by the use of a public record, the crime is reclassified to a higher degree and raised by one level on the Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet. The Committee also included a separate section in all of the amended instructions for the reclassification provided in section 817.568(10), Florida Statutes (2017), which provides a one-level increment in the Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet for any person who, for the purpose of obtaining or using personal identification information, misrepresents himself or herself to be a law enforcement officer; an employee or representative of a bank, credit card company, credit counseling company, or credit reporting agency; or any person who wrongfully represents that he or she is seeking to assist the victim with a problem with the victim's credit history.

Having considered the Committee's report, the amended criminal jury instructions, as set forth in the appendix to this opinion, are hereby authorized for publication and use.¹ New language is indicated by underlining; deleted language is indicated by struck-through type. In authorizing the publication and use of these instructions, we express no opinion on their correctness and remind all interested parties that this authorization forecloses neither requesting additional or alternative instructions nor contesting the legal correctness of the instructions. We further caution all interested parties that any comments associated with the instructions reflect only the opinion of the Committee and are not necessarily indicative of the views of this Court as to their correctness or applicability. The instructions as set forth in the appendix shall be effective when this opinion becomes final.

It is so ordered.

APPENDIX

FOOTNOTES

1.   The amendments as reflected in the appendix are to the Criminal Jury Instructions as they appear on the Court's website at www.floridasupremecourt.org/jury_instructions/instructions.shtml. We recognize that there may be minor discrepancies between the instructions as they appear on the website and the published versions of the instructions. Any discrepancies as to instructions authorized for publication and use after October 25, 2007, should be resolved by reference to the published opinion of this Court authorizing the instruction.

PER CURIAM.

CANADY, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, and LAWSON, JJ., concur.