MARY LAWSON, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The court held that the trial court erred by failing to include the definitions of justifiable and excusable homicide in its reinstruction on manslaughter, as this omission injuriously affected the substantial rights of the appellant.
[1] A trial court commits error by failing to include the definitions of justifiable and excusable homicide in its reinstruction on manslaughter when such definitions are ess…
[2] Manslaughter is defined as homicide which is not murder and which is neither justified nor excused, thus requiring the definition of acts statutorily excluded from it for…
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe appellant was convicted of manslaughter after being indicted for murder. During deliberations, the jury requested reinstruction on several charges…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Justifiable Homicide cases and more on FLexlaw
HENDRY, Judge.
The appellant was indicted and tried for kidnapping and murder in the first degree in the Circuit Court for Dade County, Florida. The jury found her guilty of manslaughter. She appeals her conviction on the ground, inter alia, that the jury’s requested reinstruction on that charge was incomplete, and that she was prejudiced thereby.
On August 19, 1978, the appellant was involved in an incident which culminated in the fatal shooting of Giles Baker, whom she had sought out because he had stolen her purse. She was accompanied in her search by a fellow victim, and an acquaintance of the decedent. Testimony, both by the surviving participants and eyewitnesses, was contradictory.
At the close of her trial, the jury was instructed by the court on the degrees of murder, on manslaughter, justifiable and excusable homicide, false imprisonment and citizen’s arrest. Thereafter, the jury interrupted its deliberations to request reinstruction on the second and third degrees of murder, and on manslaughter, as well as false imprisonment and citizen’s arrest. Over timely objection by defense counsel, which, we find, comported with the requirements of Fla.R.Crim.R. 3.390,1 the court chose not to include in its reinstruction the definitions of justifiable and excusable homicide. This was error. Controlling authority is found in the decision of Hedges v. State, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla.1965). In Hedges, as in the case sub judice, the appellant was charged with murder in the first degree, and convicted of manslaughter. Upon request of the jury, the court reread the instructions on manslaughter and the degrees of murder, withholding, over defense objection, redefinition of justifiable and excusable homicide. Reversal of the ensuing conviction was predicated on that failure, Mr. Justice Thornal noting for the court that manslaughter is defined as homicide which is not murder, and which is neither justified nor excused.2 Thus, a complete explication of manslaughter requires definition of the acts statutorily excluded therefrom. Hedges, supra, at 826; followed in Clark v. State, 301 So. 2d 456 (Fla.3d DCA 1974); DeMattia v. State, 292 So. 2d 390 (Fla.3d DCA 1974).
Appellee contends that a trial court may choose not to reinstruct on charges not specifically requested by the jury, citing Henry v. State, 359 So. 2d 864 (Fla.1978). Such a reading is overbroad.
In that case, the petitioner was convicted of first-degree murder, after the jury had been reinstructed on the distinction between murders in the first and second degree. The Supreme Court held that the trial judge’s refusal to reinstruct on justifiable and excusable homicide was a proper exercise of his discretion; the jury had requested reinstruction only on first-and second-degree murder; it had therefore, already determined that the homicide was unlawful.
Similarly, where a conviction for first degree murder was ultimately returned, the appellant would not be heard to complain that the gratuitously-repeated manslaughter instruction was not accompanied by redefinition of justifiable and excusable homicide. The verdict rendered the matter moot, because the additional information to be gleaned from a description of lawful homicide could in no way have influenced the jury’s finding that the appellant was guilty of murder. Dean v. State, 325 So. 2d 14 (Fla.1st DCA 1975).
We hold that the failure of the trial court to include-in its reinstruction on manslaughter — of which the appellant was ultimately convicted — the essential negating element of excusable homicide, “injuriously affected the substantial rights of the appellant,”3 where a finding of excusable homicide was not inconsistent with evidence presented at trial.
Because of our reversal on the ground stated above, we need not examine other issues presented by the appellant.
We reverse and remand to the court below for new trial.
Reversed and remanded.
. “Jury Instructions. (d) No party may assign as error grounds of appeal the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless he objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects, and the grounds of his objection. Opportunity shall be given to make the objection out of the presence of the jury.”
. § 782.07, Fla.Stat. (1979): “Manslaughter. The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification . . and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder, . . . shall be deemed manslaughter . . . .”
. § 924.33, Fla.Stat. (1979).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Ortagus v. State, 500 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…(Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Delaford v. State, 449 So. 2d 983 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Pridgeon v. State, 425 So. 2d 8 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); Kelsey v. State, 410 So. 2d 988 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); Gross v. State, 397 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981); Lawson v. State, 383 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). Therefore, we are called on to determine whether the trial court’s summary definitions on excusable and justifiable homicide given at the beginning of the jury instructions, and not in connection with the instruction on manslaugh…
-
Stockton v. State, 544 So. 2d 1006 (Fla. 1989)…468 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Brown v. State, 467 So. 2d 323 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, 467 So. 2d 1000 (Fla.1985); Delaford v. State, 449 So. 2d 983 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Kelsey v. State, 410 So. 2d 988 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); Lawson v. State, 383 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 3rd DCA), review denied, 392 So. 2d 1379 (Fla.1980). The principle above was first set forth in our decision in Hedges v. State, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla.1965), and has been followed by a line of Florida cases. In Hedges, we held that when a trial…
-
Driggers v. State, 917 So. 2d 329 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)…ll v. State, 882 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004) (holding that for purposes of double jeopardy analysis first-degree felony murder and aggravated manslaughter are degree variants or aggravated forms of the core offense of homicide); Lawson v. State, 383 So. 2d 1114 (Fla. 3d DCA) ("Manslaughter is defined as homicide which is not murder, and which is neither justified nor excused.”) (footnote omitted), review denied, 392 So. 2d 1379 (Fla.1980); Green v. State, 244 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971); see also Bautist…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Whitney v. Colonial INN, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla. 1965)
- Henry v. State, 359 So. 2d 864 (Fla. 1978)
- Dean v. State, 325 So. 2d 14 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975)
- Demattia v. State, 292 So. 2d 390 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974)
- Al Featherston v. State, 301 So. 2d 456 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974)