IN RE: STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES—REPORT 2019-05. (2019)

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. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.

On June 27, 2019, the Committee filed a report proposing amendments to existing standard criminal jury instructions 22.5 (Setting Up, Promoting, Conducting a Lottery), 22.6 (Disposing of [Money] [Property] by Lottery), 22.7 ([Conducting] [Advertising] a Lottery Drawing), 22.8 (Assisting in Setting Up, Promoting, or Conducting a Lottery), 22.9 ([Sale of Lottery Tickets] [Offering Lottery Tickets for Sale] [Transmitting Lottery Tickets]), 22.10 (Possessing a Lottery Ticket), and 22.11 (Possessing Rundown Sheets, Etc.). The Committee published the proposals in the May 1, 2019, edition of The Florida Bar News. No comments were received by the Committee. The Court did not publish the Committee's proposals.

The Committee's proposals are based, in part, upon the Court's sua sponte amendments in In re Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases—Report 2018-10, 259 So. 3d 765 (Fla. 2018), to instructions 22.10 and 22.11 by substituting section 546.10, Florida Statutes (2018), for repealed section 849.161, Florida Statutes (2014), in the italicized paragraph pertaining to exceptions to a lottery. The Committee further proposes amending the other lottery-related instructions. The proposals are straightforward, and accordingly the instructions are amended to reword and relocate the italicized sentence pertaining to exceptions to a lottery to the “Comments” section of each instruction, and to remove the citation to either repealed section 849.161 or to section 546.10, as applicable.

Having considered the Committee's report, we authorize for publication and use amended instructions 22.5-22.11 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 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 POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, and MUÑIZ, JJ., concur.