IN RE INSTRUCTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES
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The Florida Supreme Court overruled Johnson v. State to prohibit jury instructions that inconsistent exculpatory statements show consciousness of guilt, finding such instructions constitute impermissible comments on the evidence.
Jury instructions stating that inconsistent exculpatory statements can affirmatively show consciousness of guilt and unlawful intent are prohibited as comments on the evidence.
[1] A jury instruction permitting inconsistent exculpatory statements to be used to affirmatively show consciousness of guilt and unlawful intent constitutes an impermissible…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Inconsistent exculpatory statements can be used to affirmatively show consciousness of guilt and unlawful intent.”
The instruction from Johnson v. State that the Court determined should no longer be given.
The Court reviewed its prior approval of a jury instruction in Johnson v. State concerning the use of inconsistent exculpatory statements in criminal …
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PER CURIAM.
This Court has jurisdiction to approve jury instructions for use in the courts of this state and we have done so by adopting standard jury instructions for civil and criminal cases and have expressly approved other instructions in case law. See, e.g., Standard Jury Instructions — Criminal Cases, 603 So. 2d 1175 (Fla.1992); In re Use by Trial Courts of Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, 431 So. 2d 594 (Fla.1981).
On its own motion, the Court has concluded that the jury instruction concerning inconsistent exculpatory statements set forth in our decision in Johnson v. State, 465 So. 2d 499 (Fla.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 865, 106 S.Ct. 186, 88 L.Ed.2d 155 (1985), should no longer be given because it is a comment on the evidence. The instruction approved in Johnson reads as follows: “Inconsistent exculpatory statements can be used to affirmatively show consciousness of guilt and unlawful intent.” Johnson, 465 So. 2d at 504. We specifically overrule Johnson to the extent it approves the use of this instruction in the trial courts. This decision will apply only to those trials that have not commenced as of the date this decision becomes final.
We note that the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions (Criminal) has not prepared a standard instruction on inconsistent exculpatory statements and, consequently, no amendment to the standard instructions is required. Because we have considered this matter on our own motion, we grant any interested party until the 28th day of April, 1995, to file appropriate comments.
It is so ordered.
GRIMES, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, KOGAN, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Wickham v. State, 124 So. 3d 841 (Fla. 2013)…lves the use of threat or violence for the purposes of the prior violent felony aggravator depends upon the facts of the crime. See Johnson v. State, 465 So. 2d 499, 505 (Fla.1985), overruled on other grounds by In re Instructions in Criminal Cases, 652 So. 2d 814 (Fla.1995). In such cases, the jury should be instructed that “they [need] to consider the individual circumstances of the crime in order to determine if it was violent before weighing it as a prior violent felony.” Sweet v. State, 624 So. 2d 1138,…
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Hess v. State, 794 So. 2d 1249 (Fla. 2001)…urden of proving that this crime involved violence or the threat of violence under the actual circumstances in which it was committed. In Johnson v. State, 465 So. 2d 499 (Fla.1985), overruled on other grounds, In re Instructions in Criminal Cases, 652 So. 2d 814 (Fla.1995), we stated that the “facts may be established by documentary evidence, including the charging or conviction documents, or by testimony, or by a combination of both.” Id. at 505. Here, the State’s information alleged that appellant “did un…
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Walker v. State, 896 So. 2d 712 (Fla. 2005)…e jury that it could consider a defendant’s refusal to submit to fingerprinting as a circumstance from which guilt could be inferred, for such instruction was an impermissible comment on the evidence. Lastly, in In re Instructions in Criminal Cases, 652 So. 2d 814 (Fla.1995), this Court held that a trial court could no longer instruct a jury that it could consider a defendant’s inconsistent, exculpatory statements as a circumstance from which consciousness of guilt and unlawful intent could be inferred, for s…1 / 2
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- In re the USE BY the Trial Courts OF the Standard Jury Instructions IN Crim. Cases & the Standard Jury Instructions in Misdemeanor Cases, 431 So. 2d 594 (Fla. 1981)
- STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS-CRIMINAL CASES NO. 92-1, 603 So. 2d 1175 (Fla. 1992)
- Del Monte Corp. v. Blau, 474 U.S. 865 (U.S. 1985)
- Johnson v. Texas, 474 U.S. 865 (U.S. 1985)
- Johnson v. State, 465 So. 2d 499 (Fla. 1985)