HARRIS BOWEN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1995-05-24
No. 94-1112
WARNER and POLEN, JJ., concur.
655 So. 2d 1208 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1995) Negative 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

Harris Bowen was convicted of attempted manslaughter after claiming self-defense. The appellate court affirmed the conviction and sentence, rejecting Bowen's challenges to the jury instructions on self-defense, but vacated the restitution order because no hearing was held before it was imposed.


Holding

The trial court did not err in refusing Bowen's requested modifications to the self-defense instruction because the standard instruction adequately conveyed the prosecution's burden of proof and the no-duty-to-retreat doctrine. However, the trial court erred in entering the restitution order without holding a hearing, as such a hearing is required.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court is not required to give a special jury instruction on self-defense when the standard jury instruction adequately informs the jury of the prosecution's burde…

[2] A jury instruction is adequate if it prevents the jury from being misled regarding the prosecution's burden of proof.

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Key Quotes

“Because the jury was told that appellant must be acquitted if there was any reasonable doubt concerning his justification in using force against the alleged victim, there was no reasonable possibility that the jury was misled in regard to the prosecution's burden of proof.”

Establishes that the standard self-defense instruction adequately conveyed the prosecution's burden of proof without needing Bowen's requested modification.

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Facts & Procedural History

Bowen was tried by jury and convicted of attempted manslaughter. He claimed self-defense at trial. The trial court gave standard jury instructions on …

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Opinion of the Court
STEVENSON, Judge.

STEVENSON, Judge.

Appellant, Harris Bowen, was tried by jury and convicted of attempted manslaughter. Bowen argues that the trial court erred (1) in denying his requested modifications to the standard jury instruction on self defense and (2) in entering a restitution order without holding a hearing. We reject Bowen’s argument that there was error in the jury charge but agree that the restitution order must be vacated.

At trial, appellant claimed self defense. He requested the trial court to instruct the jury that “the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant did not act in self defense.” The trial court refused this special request. We find that the trial court did not err in failing to give appellant’s requested instruction in view of the instructions which were given. The trial court gave the standard jury instruction which reads in part:

If in your consideration of the issue of self defense you have a reasonable doubt on the question of whether or not the Defendant was justified in the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm, you should find the Defendant not guilty. However, if from the evidence you are convinced that the Defendant was not justified in the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm, you should find him guilty if all of the elements have been proven.

See Fla.Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.04(d).

Because the jury was told that appellant must be acquitted if there was any reasonable doubt concerning his justification in using force against the alleged victim, there was no reasonable possibility that the jury was misled in regard to the prosecution’s burden of proof. See Cronin v. State, 470 So. 2d 802 (Fla.4th DCA 1985) (a conviction will not be reversed merely because an instruction which might have been proper is not given; the reviewing court must conclude that the jury was misled by the instructions which were used).

Likewise, appellant’s contention that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that “a defendant has no duty to retreat when attacked in his home by a house guest or friend” lacks merit. The standard jury instruction on self defense, which was given by the trial court, reads in part as follows: If the Defendant was attacked in his own home or on his own premises, he had no duty to retreat and had the lawful right to stand his ground and meet force with force even to the extent of using force likely to cause death or great bodily harm.

See Fla.Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.04(d). Although the standard instruction does not specify house guest or friend, it was broad enough to apprise the jury that appellant had no duty to retreat if attacked by someone in his home, be they invited or uninvited, friend or foe.

Lastly, the state concedes that the trial court improperly entered an order of restitution in this case because no restitution hearing was held. See Langston v. State, 616 So. 2d 597, 598 (Fla.4th DCA) (a trial court is required to hold a hearing prior to imposing restitution), rev. denied, 626 So. 2d 206 (Fla, 1993). As an aside, we note that at a hearing on another matter, all parties agreed that the issue of restitution had already been addressed and taken care of in this case.

Accordingly, we affirm appellant’s conviction and sentence but vacate the order of restitution.

WARNER and POLEN, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Mosansky v. State, 33 So. 3d 756 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010)
    …the claim of self-defense. Not only did Appellant fail to cite any cases supporting his argument that such an instruction is required, he neglected to even acknowledge the cases in which the argument has been expressly rejected. In Bowen v. State, 655 So. 2d 1208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), the appellant argued that the trial court erred in denying his request to instruct the jury that the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense. The court rejected this argument and…
  • Chandler v. State, 744 So. 2d 1058 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
    …ested jury instruction to determine “whether there was a reasonable possibility that the jury could have been misled by the failure to give that instruction.” Cronin v. State, 470 So. 2d 802, 804 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); see also [*1061] Bowen v. State, 655 So. 2d 1208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). We find that such a possibility exists in the instant case. With respect to the disorderly conduct charge, the jury was instructed only as follows: Before you can find the defendant guilty of disorderly conduct, the State must…
  • Roger v. State, 670 So. 2d 160 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
    …t the defendant was justified in the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm. This sufficiently apprised the jury that the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant had not acted in self-defense. See Bowen v. State, 655 So. 2d 1208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). The trial court properly denied a “castle” instruction which would have instructed the jury that the defendant had no duty to retreat since the victim was living in her home when the murder occurred. The “castle” doctrine is in…

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