STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
DONALD KURNS, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1981-04-29
No. 80-1300
SCHEB, C. J., and BOARDMAN, J., concur.
397 So. 2d 463 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1981) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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.

Synopsis

Florida charged Kurns with attempted first-degree murder, but the jury convicted him of the lesser offense of attempted second-degree murder. The trial court granted Kurns's motion for a new trial, but the appellate court reversed, holding that the trial court properly refused to reinstructing the jury on self-defense and that Kurns failed to establish newly discovered evidence warranting a new trial.


Holding

The trial court did not err in refusing to reinstructed the jury on self-defense because the jury's narrowed request specifically to second-degree murder indicated the jury had already determined Kurns's actions were unlawful, and a repeated self-defense instruction would only confuse the jury or suggest the judge considered the actions justified. Additionally, newly discovered case law supporting the introduction of known evidence does not constitute newly discovered material evidence under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure rule 3.600(3).


Headnotes

[1] A trial court does not err in refusing to reinstruct a jury on self-defense when the jury's specific requests indicate they have determined the defendant's actions were u…

[2] Newly discovered case law does not constitute newly discovered material evidence for the purpose of granting a new trial.

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Key Quotes

“where a specific instruction is requested by the jury, and it is suggested by the request that the jury has decided the act was an unlawful homicide, no instruction need be given on lawful homicide”

Establishes the legal standard from Henry v. State that governs when courts must instruct on self-defense in response to jury requests

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Facts & Procedural History

Kurns was charged with attempted first-degree murder. During jury deliberations, the jury requested instructions on various lesser included offenses i…

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Opinion of the Court
OTT, Judge.

OTT, Judge.

Appellee was charged with attempted first-degree murder. Following appellee’s conviction of attempted second-degree murder, the trial court granted his motion for a new trial. We reverse.

In the trial judge’s charge to the jury, he instructed on the definitions of attempted first-degree murder, lesser included offenses, and on the justifiable use of force and excusable homicide. During their deliberation, the jury returned and requested the trial judge to repeat the definitions of aggravated assault, attempted manslaughter, and self-defense. With the agreement of both the state and appellee, the instructions on aggravated assault, attempted manslaughter, self-defense and justifiable use of deadly force were repeated. After further deliberation, the jury again returned and requested to be instructed on only the definition of second-degree murder. Appellee thereupon requested the trial judge to repeat the instruction on self-defense, but the state objected that such a gratuitous instruction by the judge would be given undue significance by the jury. The trial judge refused Kurns’ request and only instructed the jury on second-degree murder.

The jury convicted appellee of attempted second-degree murder. He thereafter moved for a new trial on two grounds: that the trial court should have reinstructed the jury on self-defense pursuant to his request at the trial and on the ground of newly discovered evidence.

We first consider the trial court’s denial of Kurns’ request for a second instruction on self-defense. In Henry v. State, 359 So. 2d 864 (Fla.1978), the supreme court stated that where a specific instruction is requested by the jury, and it is suggested by the request that the jury has decided the act was an unlawful homicide, no instruction need be given on lawful homicide. In the present case, two prior instructions on self-defense had been given. At the time of the jury’s second request for additional instructions, they had narrowed their request specifically to second-degree murder.

Thus, it seems clear that the jury had determined that Kurns’ actions were unlawful. There was, therefore, no error in refusing an additional instruction on self-defense. Such an instruction would only cause the jury to question its current position or suggest to them that the judge considered appellee’s actions justified.

Appellee also argued that he had recently discovered new legal authority to support the introduction of the testimony of a psychiatrist he had listed as a possible witness prior to trial. Thus, Kurns had not discovered new and material evidence as contemplated by rule 3.600(3), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, rather, he had, post-trial, discovered additional case law supporting the introduction of known evidence. Newly discovered case law does not constitute newly discovered material evidence capable of changing the result of the trial. We note that no review was sought of the action, if any, of the trial judge excluding the testimony in question.

Finding no basis for granting the new trial, we reverse and vacate the order and reinstate appellee’s conviction for attempted second-degree murder. SCHEB, C. J., and BOARDMAN, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Reifsnyder v. State, 428 So. 2d 738 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)
    …stifiable and excusable homicide, any definition of manslaughter without definitions of these other two types of homicide would be incomplete. See Henry v. State, 359 So. 2d 864 (Fla.1978). This case is controlled by our opinion in State v. Kurns, 397 So. 2d 463 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981). Finding no error, the judgment and sentences are AFFIRMED. HOBSON and SCHEB, JJ., concur.…
  • Hyster Co. v. Morales, 591 So. 2d 1082 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)
    …1990. With respect to Morales’s oral motion for relief from the Final Summary Judgment pursuant to Rule 1.540(b)(2), the trial court erred in finding that a recent appellate court decision constituted newly discovered evidence. See State v. Kurns, 397 So. 2d 463 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1981); Zerman v. Jacobs, 113 F.R.D. 13 (S.D.N.Y.1986) (court held recent appellate court decision not newly discovered evidence and could not support motion to vacate judgment on that basis). The finding of a new appellate court decisi…
  • Leonard v. State, 423 So. 2d 594 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)
    …the jury’s question that they had resolved the issue of guilt adversely to the defendant and were only interested in reinstruction as to what degree of homicide the defendant had committed. Henry v. State, 359 So. 2d 864 (Fla.1978); State v. Kurns, 397 So. 2d 463 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981). Further the trial court gave defense counsel every opportunity to object to the procedure followed and he declined the opportunity to make any objections and therefore we find it waived. Wherefore the convictions, adjudications…

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