JESSIE JAMES JEFFERSON, 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.
Florida appellate court affirmed defendant's manslaughter conviction, rejecting claims that the trial court erred in deleting portions of a deadly force jury instruction and in denying a mistrial motion based on cross-examination regarding unavailable defense witnesses.
A trial court properly deletes portions of a standard jury instruction on deadly force when no evidence supports the deleted language, and properly denies a mistrial motion when cross-examination legitimately exposes a defense failure to subpoena available exculpatory witnesses.
[1] A trial court may properly delete portions of a standard jury instruction on deadly force when the defendant's own testimony negates the factual predicate for the deleted…
[2] Cross-examination that exposes a defendant's failure to subpoena available and competent witnesses, where the defense has indicated such witnesses could exonerate the def…
Previewing 2 of 2 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJessie James Jefferson was convicted of manslaughter. At trial, Jefferson testified that he shot the victim accidentally, not in self-defense or to pr…
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 Use Of Deadly Force cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
The defendant Jessie James Jefferson appeals his conviction and sentence for manslaughter and raises two points on appeal.
First, he claims the trial court erred in deleting portions of the standard jury instruction on deadly force in the court’s charge to the jury.
We reject this contention because no evidence was adduced below to support the deleted portion of the charge. Indeed, the defendant testified, quite to the contrary, that he shot the victim accidentally, not that he shot the victim to prevent a forcible felony as the deleted charge requires. See Stevens v. State, 397 So. 2d 324 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); Cawthon v. State, 382 So. 2d 796 (Fla. 1st DCA), pet. for review denied, 388 So. 2d 1110 (Fla.1980).
Second, he claims the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on the state’s cross-examination of the defendant at trial.
We reject this contention because the cross-examination properly brought out the failure of the defense to subpoena two competent and available witnesses where the defendant’s own presentation of testimony had indicated that these witnesses could exonerate him. Romero v. State, 435 So. 2d 318, 320 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983), pet. for review denied, 447 So. 2d 888 (Fla.1984). The final judgment of conviction and sentence are in all respects
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
McGAHEE v. State, 600 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)…the defendant at no time relied on this defense in his presentation to the jury; his sole defense to the jury was self-defense. See Andrade v. State, 564 So. 2d 238, 239 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990), rev. denied, 576 So. 2d 284 (Fla.1991); Jefferson v. State, 471 So. 2d 181, 182 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985). The final judgment of conviction and sentence for attempted manslaughter with a firearm is affirmed. The final judgment of conviction and sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony is r…
-
Render v. State, 582 So. 2d 827 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)…[*828] PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Jefferson v. State, 471 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985).…
Authorities Cited
- Fidel Romero v. State, 435 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)
- Cawthon v. State, 382 So. 2d 796 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)
- Stevens v. State, 397 So. 2d 324 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)