IN RE: STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES—REPORT 2018-11. (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 amendments to five existing standard criminal jury instructions: 3.13 (Submitting Case to Jury); 8.22 (Written Threat to [Kill] [Do Bodily Injury] ); 11.14(h) (Sexual Offender Definitions); 11.15(l ) (Sexual Predator Definitions); and 21.11 (Harassing a [Witness] [Victim] [Informant] ). The proposals were published by the Committee in The Florida Bar News ; one comment was received from the Florida Public Defender Association (FPDA) concerning the proposed amendments to instruction 8.22. The proposals were not published by the Court after having been filed by the Committee.

Having considered the Committee's report, the FPDA comment, and the Committee's response thereto, we authorize the standard jury instructions as proposed by the Committee for publication and use. We discuss the more significant amendments below.

First, with regard to instruction 3.13, the sentence “If a juror goes to the restroom, the deliberations should stop until the juror returns” is added. Next, to bring the criminal instructions into harmony with the Standard Civil Jury Instructions, the phrase “signed by a foreperson” is removed from the paragraph pertaining to written communication between jurors and the trial judge. See, e.g., Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Civ.) 700.

Next, instruction 8.22 is amended to add “conduct a mass shooting” and “conduct an act of terrorism” to the title of the instruction and name of the crime in response to amendments made by the Legislature to section 836.10, Florida Statutes (2018). See Ch. 2018-3, § 17, at 26, Laws of Fla. Additionally, italicized notes are added that explain there are two ways to violate section 836.10. The first three elements in the existing standard instruction track the language of the statute before the 2018 amendment. In response to the 2018 amendment, new elements are added reading:

1. (Defendant) [made] [posted] [transmitted] a writing or other record.

2. The writing or other record contained a threat to conduct [a mass shooting] [or] [an act of terrorism].

3. (Defendant) [made] [posted] [transmitted] the writing or other record in a manner that allowed another person to view the threat.

Finally, a note apprising trial judges and attorneys of a possible First Amendment concern and a citation to Elonis v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 2001, 192 L.Ed.2d 1 (2015), are added to the comments section of the instruction.

Instructions 11.14(h) and 11.15(l ) are modified to reduce the length of time for a person to qualify as living in a “permanent residence,” “temporary residence,” or “transient residence” from five days to three days. These changes are based on legislative amendments to section 775.21(2), Florida Statutes (2018). See Ch. 2018-105, § 1, at 1, Laws of Fla. Additionally, the definition of “motor vehicle” in these instructions is amended to include the terms “personal delivery services” and “mobile carriers.” See Ch. 2018-130, § 5, at 4-5, Laws of Fla.; see also § 320.01(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2018).

Having considered the Committee's report, the comment, and the Committee's response thereto, we authorize for publication and use amended instructions 3.13, 8.22, 11.14(h), 11.15(l ) and 21.11, as proposed, and as set forth in the appendix to this opinion.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 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 set forth in the appendix shall become 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.