IN RE: STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES—REPORT 2018-02. (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 for publication and use. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.

The Committee proposes amending the following existing instructions: 2.1(d) (Insanity — Psychotropic Medication); 3.5(c) (Accessory After the Fact); and 14.1 (Theft). In addition, the Committee proposes new instructions 21.17 (Compounding a Felony) and 29.5 ( [Disorderly Conduct] [Breach of the Peace] ). The Committee published the proposed amendments in The Florida Bar News, and received one comment from the Florida Public Defender Association, Inc., concerning new instructions 21.17 and 29.5. The Committee altered its proposal for new instruction 29.5 upon consideration of the comment. The Court did not publish the proposals after they were filed. We hereby authorize the amended and new instructions for publication and use as set forth in the appendix to this opinion. The more significant amendments to the instructions are discussed below.

First, instruction 2.1(d) (Insanity — Psychotropic Medication), the pretrial instruction that is given when a defendant's ability to proceed to trial is dependent on the use of psychotropic medication, is modified to mirror the language in its corresponding final charge instruction, 3.6(c) (Psychotropic Medication). The word “Insanity” is deleted from the title because instruction 2.1(d) does not address insanity and the word “Insanity” was recently deleted from the title of instruction 3.6(c). See In re Std. Jury Instr. in Crim. Cases—Report No. 2016-04, 206 So. 3d 14, 16 (Fla. 2016). Additionally, the italicized note at the beginning of instruction 2.1(d) is revised for uniformity with the italicized note at the beginning of instruction 3.6(c). A new final paragraph is also added to the instruction informing the jurors that they should not allow the defendant's present condition in court or any apparent side effect from the psychotropic medication that may be observed in court to affect their deliberations.

Next, instruction 3.5(c) (Accessory After the Fact) is renumbered to 21.18, so that it falls under chapter 21, which contains instructions for specific crimes involving “Obstruction of Justice,” rather than under chapter 3, which contains instructions for “Final Charge to Jury,” because accessory after the fact is a specific crime. Additionally, an italicized note referencing section 777.03(1)(b), Florida Statutes (2018), is relocated to the comment section, resulting in a new paragraph. The new paragraph addresses considerations that the court may need to take into account if the felony alleged is child abuse, neglect of a child, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child under 18 years of age, or murder of a child under 18 years of age.

Next, instruction 14.1 (Theft) is updated, based in part upon this Court's opinion in Dubose v. State, 210 So.3d 641 (Fla. 2017), to add within the definition of “dwelling” that an enclosure around a curtilage need not be continuous as it may have an ungated opening for entering and exiting. The definition of “motor vehicle” found in section 320.01(1)(a), Florida Statutes (2018), is also added to the instruction. Further, a new paragraph is added to the comment section stating that a special instruction will be required if the defendant found lost or abandoned property and failed to report the description and location to a law enforcement officer, or unlawfully appropriated the lost or abandoned property, citing section 705.102, Florida Statutes (2018).

New instruction 21.17 (Compounding a Felony) instructs upon the crime of compounding a felony, as enacted in section 843.14, Florida Statutes (2018). Instruction 21.17 sets forth the elements of the crime that the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and provides that the court should define the felony alleged. Additionally, a paragraph is added to the comment section that states “§ 843.14, Fla. Stat. links the degree of the felony that was concealed to the degree of the crime that the defendant committed.” The paragraph also states, “Although there is no case law directly on point, the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases relied on the logic in Bowen v. State, 791 So.2d 44 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) to conclude that the State must specify the felony that the defendant knew about and concealed.”

The existing and new 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 and 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.