IN RE: STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES—REPORT 2019-09. (2020)

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 standard criminal jury instructions 11.10(g) (Lewd or Lascivious Exhibition by a Detainee in the Presence of an Employee of a Facility), 14.1 (Theft), 21.16 (Falsely Personating an Officer), 25.7 (Possession of a Controlled Substance), and 25.14 (Use or Possession with Intent to Use Drug Paraphernalia). The Committee published the proposals in The Florida Bar News; no comments were received by the Committee. After the Committee filed its report, the Court did not publish the proposals for comment.

Having considered the Committee's report, we authorize the proposed amendments to the instructions for publication and use as proposed. Some of the more significant changes to the instructions are discussed below.

First, instruction 11.10(g) is amended based upon the Legislature's recent amendment to section 800.09, Florida Statutes (2019), which expanded the offense to include commission of lewd or lascivious exhibition in a county detention facility. See ch. 2019-167, § 34, Laws of Fla. Thus, “county detention facility” is added as an alternative where the defendant was detained, and the definition for that term, as defined by section 951.23(1), Florida Statutes (2019), is added. In addition, the phrase “any person employed at or performing contractual services for a county detention facility” is added to the definition of “employee,” based upon the addition of section 800.09(1)(a)4.

Next, the theft instruction, 14.1, is amended based upon the change to the grand theft statute, section 812.014(2)(c), Florida Statutes (2019), which changed the value of the property stolen from $300 or more to $750 or more, and added the phrase “that, at the time of the taking, was installed in a building for the purpose of fire prevention and control” to the definition of “fire extinguisher.” See ch. 2019-167, § 36, Laws of Fla.

Instruction 21.16 is amended also based upon recent legislation. Under chapter 2019-22, section 2, Laws of Florida, the Legislature added “a school guardian as described in s. 30.15(1)(k)” and “a security officer licensed under chapter 493” to the list of impersonated individuals covered by the crime of Falsely Personating an Officer and removed the term “watchman.” In addition, “officers of the Department of Environmental Protection” are also included in the list. See ch. 2019-141, § 14, Laws of Fla. Instruction 21.16 is amended accordingly.

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, and deleted language is indicated by struck-through type. 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. 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. The instructions as 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 POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, and MUÑIZ, JJ., concur.