JAMES ARMSTRONG, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1991-05-09
No. 76768
SHAW, C.J., and OVERTON, MCDONALD, BARKETT, KOGAN and HARDING, JJ., concur.
579 So. 2d 734 Florida Supreme Court (1991) Caution
Cited by 119 cases

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Holding

A defendant waives the right to claim fundamental error regarding jury instructions when defense counsel specifically requests an abbreviated or erroneous instruction.


Headnotes

[1] Failure to instruct the jury on justifiable or excusable homicide as it relates to the definition of manslaughter constitutes reversible error.

[2] A defendant waives the right to claim error in a jury instruction when defense counsel affirmatively requests an erroneous instruction.

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Facts & Procedural History

Defense counsel requested an abbreviated jury instruction on excusable homicide, omitting certain definitions, to align with the defense theory of acc…

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Opinion of the Court
GRIMES, Justice.

GRIMES, Justice.

We review Armstrong v. State, 566 So. 2d 943 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990), to answer the following question certified as one of great public importance:

DOES TRIAL COUNSEL FOR A DEFENDANT WAIVE FOR HIS CLIENT FUTURE OBJECTION TO FAILURE TO GIVE THE FULL AND COMPLETE INITIAL INSTRUCTION ON JUSTIFIABLE AND EXCUSABLE HOMICIDE AS PART OF THE MANSLAUGHTER INSTRUCTION WHEN THE TRIAL ATTORNEY SPECIFICALLY REQUESTS AN ABBREVIATED INSTRUCTION, WHICH OTHERWISE WOULD CONSTITUTE FUNDAMENTAL ERROR?

Id. at 944. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. During Armstrong’s trial for second-degree murder defense counsel requested that the jury be given an abbreviated version of the standard instruction on excusable homicide. In particular, counsel requested that the definition of excusable homicide be limited to omit reference to a killing in the heat of passion, upon sudden provocation, or upon sudden combat. The defense theory of the case was that Armstrong shot the victim by accident during a struggle for a gun. Defense counsel ar gued that the evidence would only implicate that portion of the instruction that defined excusable homicide as a killing committed by accident and misfortune, and thus the omitted portion of the instruction was not relevant to the case.

The trial judge gave the instruction as requested. The jury found Armstrong guilty of second-degree murder. On appeal, Armstrong claimed that giving the limited instruction was fundamental, reversible error under Rojas v. State, 552 So. 2d 914 (Fla.1989). The Fifth District Court of Appeal agreed that error occurred but held that the error was waived because defense counsel requested the limited instruction.

Failure to instruct on justifiable or excusable homicide as it relates to the definition of manslaughter is reversible error. Rojas. In a different context, this Court has said that fundamental error may be waived where defense counsel requests an erroneous instruction. Ray v. State, 403 So. 2d 956 (Fla.1981). In Ray, the defendant was charged with sexual battery. The trial court, without objection, instructed the jury on commission of a lewd and lascivious act as a lesser included offense of sexual battery. Because the charge conference was not recorded, it was not clear whether defense counsel requested the instruction. After the jury convicted Ray of lewd assault, he claimed fundamental error, arguing that lewd assault is not a lesser included offense of sexual battery. This Court determined that lewd assault is not a lesser included offense of sexual battery. Although the Court refused to find waiver on these facts, it nevertheless held that it is not fundamental error to convict a defendant under an erroneous lesser included charge when he had an opportunity to object to the charge and failed to do so if: 1) the improperly charged offense is lesser in degree and penalty than the main offense or 2) defense counsel requested the improper charge or relied on that charge as evidenced by argument to the jury or other affirmative action. Failure to timely object precludes relief from such a conviction.

Ray, 403 So. 2d at 961 (footnote omitted) (emphasis added).

That analysis applies here. Counsel requested the limited instruction in order to tailor it to the defense that the killing was accidental. By affirmatively requesting the instruction he now challenges, Armstrong has waived any claim of error in the instruction.1 Any other holding would allow a defendant to intentionally inject error into the trial and then await the outcome with the expectation that if he is found guilty the conviction will be automatically reversed. Armstrong’s reliance on Achin v. State, 436 So. 2d 30 (Fla.1982), is misplaced because in that case the defendant had been convicted of a nonexistent crime.

We answer the certified question in the affirmative and approve the decision below.

It is so ordered.

SHAW, C.J., and OVERTON, MCDONALD, BARKETT, KOGAN and HARDING, JJ., concur. . We reject Armstrong’s contention that his personal on-the-record waiver was required in this situation. Defense counsel’s request for the limited instruction was a tactical decision. This distinguishes it from a waiver of a fundamental right which requires defendant’s on-the-record waiver. See State v. Griffith, 561 So. 2d 528 (Fla.1990) (waiver of right to twelve-person jury was tactical decision which did not require defendant’s personal waiver to be effective); Jones v. State, 484 So. 2d 577 (Fla.1986) (noncapital defendant’s right to have jury instructed on all necessarily lesser included offenses does not require a record showing of defendant’s personal waiver).


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Citator

Cited By (61 total)

  • State v. Lucas, 645 So. 2d 425 (Fla. 1994)
    …ed by reference to what it is not,” a complete instruction on manslaughter requires an explanation that justifiable and excusable homicide are excluded from the crime. Stockton v. State, 544 So. 2d 1006, 1008 (Fla.1989); see also Armstrong v. State, 579 So. 2d 734 (Fla.1991); Rojas; Miller; State v. Smith, 573 So. 2d 306 (Fla.1990); Hedges v. State, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla.1965). The district court is correct that this case is controlled by our decisions in Rojas and Miller, which stand for the proposition that f…
    1 / 2
  • Universal Ins. Co. OF N. Am. v. Warfel, 82 So. 3d 47 (Fla. 2012)
    …(emphasis supplied). Accordingly, we deny relief on this claim. Finally, Universal’s assertion that the error was invited is without merit. Fundamental error is waived where defense counsel requests an erroneous instruction. See Armstrong v. State, 579 So. 2d 734, 735 (Fla.1991) (citing Ray v. State, 403 So. 2d 956 (Fla.1981)). Fundamental error is also waived where defense counsel affirmatively agrees to an improper instruction. See State v. Lucas, 645 So. 2d 425, 427 (Fla.1994) (“The only exception we have…
  • Blackwelder v. State, 851 So. 2d 650 (Fla. 2003)
    …lenge either juror, he cannot now complain about their presence on the jury. To permit relief under this claim would allow a defendant to intentionally inject error into the penalty phase to hedge against a sentence of death. Cf. Armstrong v. State, 579 So. 2d 734, 735 (Fla.1991) (affirming where the defendant claimed that the trial court committed fundamental error by charging the jury with an erroneous instruction the defendant had requested). Even if Blackwelder had preserved this claim, we would deny it…

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