E.M. WATKINS & COMPANY AND LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANTS,

v.

ELTON MORGAN, APPELLEE

Citator

Cited By

• Rojas v. State, 552 So. 2d 914 (Fla. 1989)
  …45 So. 2d 719 (Fla.1977) (failure to instruct on lesser included offense constitutes prejudicial error), a substantial number of murder convictions have been set aside because of a Hedges error in the manslaughter instruction. E.g., Walker v. State, 520 So. 2d 606 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Niblack v. State, 451 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Pouk v. State, 359 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978). In Hedges, the failure to refer to justifiable and excusable homicide while defining manslaughter occurred when the jury requ…
• Smith v. State, 539 So. 2d 514 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)
  …n significant contrast to Rojas, the First District Court of Appeal, in another case involving a second-degree murder conviction, found to be reversible error the same omis [*519] sion which was found in Garcia to be harmless error. Walker v. State, 520 So. 2d 606 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). Fundamental error was not in issue in Walker. It should also be noted that courts have found no fundamental error in this type of omission in the manslaughter instruction when a defendant was convicted of first-degree murder. S…
• Arline v. State, 550 So. 2d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
  …or v. State, 444 So. 2d 931 (Fla.1983). However, the substantial body of law which has evolved in this area dealing with deficient instructions in homicide cases does not lend itself to the kind of rationale articulated above. See Walker v. State, 520 So. 2d 606 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Alejo v. State, 483 So. 2d 117 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1986); Smith v. State, 539 So. 2d 514 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1989). I therefore reluctantly agree to the reversal and remand for a new trial. . Of course, if appellant were appealing from a…