FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Francisco Rodriguez appeals his conviction for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery stemming from a knife fight outside a bar. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reverses because the trial court's jury instruction on reasonable doubt violated the defendant's due process rights by minimizing the reasonable doubt standard.
The court reverses Rodriguez's conviction because the jury instruction on reasonable doubt violated his due process rights by minimizing the reasonable doubt standard. The instruction was fundamental error, identical to those found erroneous in Pierce, Wilson, and Jones.
[1] Instructing the jury that the state does not have to convince the jury to an absolute certainty of the defendant’s guilt violates the defendant’s due process rights by mi…
[2] A jury instruction that impermissibly reduces the reasonable doubt standard below the protections of the Due Process Clause constitutes fundamental error.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“instructing the jury that the state does not have to convince the jury to an absolute certainty of the defendant's guilt violated the defendant's due process rights as it is a minimization of the reasonable doubt standard that deprived the defendant of his defense”
Establishes the core holding that the jury instruction at issue violated due process by minimizing the reasonable doubt standard
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRodriguez was charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon following a fight outside a bar during which he s…
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POLEN, Judge.
Francisco Rodriguez appeals from a final judgment convicting him of attempted first degree murder using a knife, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The charges resulted from a fight outside a bar during which Rodriguez stabbed the victims. Rodriguez raises four separate points on appeal, one of which warrants reversal.
We reverse because the instructions on reasonable doubt given by the trial court prior to empaneling the jury were identical to those that this court found to be fundamental error in Pierce v. State, 671 So. 2d 186 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. granted, 677 So. 2d 841 (Fla.1996), Wilson v. State, 668 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), rev. granted, 672 So. 2d 543 (Fla.1996), and Jones v. State, 656 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied, 663 So. 2d 632 (Fla.1995), cert. denied, — U.S. — , 116 S.Ct. 1451, 134 L.Ed.2d 570 (1996). At bar, as in the above cited cases, instructing the jury that the state does not have to convince the jury to an absolute certainty of the defendant’s guilt violated the defendant’s due process rights as it is a minimization of the reasonable doubt standard that deprived the defendant of his defense. In so holding, we note conflict with the third district’s opinion in Doctor v. State, 677 So. 2d 1372 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996). We also certify as issues of great public importance the same two questions certified in Wilson, which are as follows:
DOES THE JURY INSTRUCTION GIVEN IN THIS CASE 1 IMPERMISSIBLY REDUCE THE REASONABLE DOUBT STANDARD BELOW THE PROTECTIONS OF THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE?
IF SO, IS SUCH AN INSTRUCTION FUNDAMENTAL ERROR?
In a separate point on appeal, Rodriguez argues that it was error to allow the prosecutor to ask him on cross-examination why his stepson, who was present at the scene of the crime, was not at trial. As our reversal on the giving of the improper jury instruction will require a new trial, we need not consider whether allowing this question posed by the prosecutor constitutes reversible error. We do think, however, that the question was improper and caution the trial court not to allow the state to pose such a question to Rodriguez if he testifies on retrial. See Bates v. State, 649 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995) (comments by prosecutor in closing argument which refer to defendant’s failure to call a witness generally are reversible error in light of possibility that the comments could lead the jury to believe that the defendant had the burden of proving his innocence).
We are unpersuaded by Rodriguez’s remaining two points on appeal.
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.
STONE and FARMER, JJ., concur. . The offending portion of the jury instruction at bar is identical to the instruction given in Wilson.
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Citator
Cited By
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Schneer v. Allstate Indem. Co., 767 So. 2d 485 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)…l dismissed. . I believe the court's decision on this point may be another example of the process described by Cardozo and referred .to in Doctor v. State, 677 So. 2d 1372, 1373-74 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)(Schwartz, C.J., specially concurring), approved, 683 So. 2d 162 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).…
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State v. Rodriguez, 693 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 1997)…SHAW, Justice. We have for review Rodriguez v. State, 683 So. 2d 162 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), based on conflict with State v. Wilson, 686 So. 2d 569 (Fla.1996). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. We quash Rodriguez. It is so ordered. KOGAN, C.J., and OVERTON, GRIMES, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ.…
Authorities Cited
- Jones v. State, 656 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)
- Donnie Hugh Doctor v. State, 677 So. 2d 1372 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
- Milo Wilson v. State, 668 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)
- Pierce v. State, 671 So. 2d 186 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
- The AETNA Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Haese, 649 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)
- Bates v. State, 649 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)