IN RE: STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES—REPORT 2019-11. (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 instructions 3.12 (Verdict), 8.26 (Sexual Cyberharassment), 11.21 (Transmission of Material Harmful to Minors by Electronic Device or Equipment), and 27.1 ([Attempted] Escape). The Committee published the proposals in The Florida Bar News. One comment was received, from the Florida Public Defender Association (FPDA), pertaining to three of the four above-listed instructions.¹ The Court did not publish the proposals.

Having considered the Committee's report and the FPDA's comment, we authorize the Committee's proposals to the instructions herein at issue for publication and use. Some of the more significant changes to the instructions are discussed below.

Instruction 3.12 is amended to remove the reference to “information” and “indictment” while retaining language that the jury may find the defendant guilty as charged or of a lesser-included crime. In addition, the instruction is amended to provide that if the case involves one or more lesser-included offenses, the second paragraph, stating, “If you return a verdict of guilty, it should be for the highest offense on the verdict form [for each count] that has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If you find that no offense has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then, of course, your verdict must be not guilty,” should be given.

Instruction 8.26 is amended to reflect that the offense of sexual cyberharassment may be committed by “dissemination” of a sexually explicit image of the victim through electronic means, and that the publication or dissemination was contrary to the victim's reasonable expectation of privacy. The instruction is further amended to include the definition of “personal identification information” as provided by section 784.049(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2019), and a citation to section 784.049(2)(c) is included for “reasonable expectation of privacy.”

Instruction 27.1 is rewritten to reorganize the elements and also includes “released on furlough” in accord with an amendment to section 944.40, Florida Statutes (2019), by chapter 2019-167, section 54, Laws of Florida.

The amended criminal jury instructions, as set forth in the appendix to this opinion, are hereby authorized for publication and use.² 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 immediately upon the release of this opinion.

It is so ordered.

APPENDIX

FOOTNOTES

1.   Two of the FPDA's suggested changes to two of the instructions, as proposed, were technical.

2.   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.