DAMIEN DAVIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2003-01-22
No. 4D02-236
WARNER and STEVENSON, JJ., concur., WARNER, KLEIN and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.
839 So. 2d 734 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2003) Positive Treatment
Cited by 22 cases

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Holding

The omission of a crime element from jury instructions is fundamental error only if there was an actual dispute about that element raised by the evidence or argument.


Facts & Procedural History

Appellant sought rehearing, arguing that the omission of a crime element from jury instructions constituted fundamental error based on precedent. The …

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Opinion of the Court
KLEIN, J.

KLEIN, J.

Appellant argues that the trial court committed fundamental error in failing to give a guilty knowledge jury instruction under Chicone v. State, 684 So. 2d 736 (Fla.1996). We affirm.

Appellant was convicted of possession and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school based on the testimony of a confidential informant. The informant testified that, while he was driving, the appellant waved him over. The informant got out of his car and went onto appellant’s porch, where appellant sold him cocaine.

Chicone requires that, where a defendant requests it, the jury must be instructed that the defendant have knowledge that the substance is illegal. In this case the instruction was not requested, but defendant argues that it was fundamental error not to give it.

Because guilty knowledge was not an issue in this case, in that the only position taken by the defendant was that he was not the person who sold the cocaine to the informant, any error in not giving a guilty knowledge instruction would not rise to the level of fundamental error. State v. Delva, 575 So. 2d 643 (Fla.1991). We therefore affirm.

WARNER and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.

Other
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant has moved for rehearing asserting that the error in his case was fundamental based on Scott v. State, 808 So. 2d 166 (Fla.2002). He suggests that there is a conflict between Scott and State v. Delva, 575 So. 2d 643 (Fla.1991), as to what is necessary for an element of a crime to be in dispute, in order for the omission of the element from a jury instruction to constitute fundamental error. We do not agree with appellant that there is a conflict between Scott and Delva because in Scott the error was preserved. Accordingly, the language in Scott relied on by appellant1 is not relevant when analyzing whether an error is fundamental.

In order for a jury instruction which omits a crime element to be fundamental error under Delva, there must be an actual dispute about that element raised by the evidence or argument. As the court noted in Delva, there was “no suggestion that Delva was arguing that while he knew of the existence of the package he did not know what it contained.” Id. at 645. In a decision after Scott, Reed v. State, 837 So. 2d 366 (Fla.2002), our supreme court reiterated that Delva is the controlling law on this issue.

In the same vein, appellant argues that our opinion in this case conflicts with Thompson v. State, 814 So. 2d 1103 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), which involved the issue of whether the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury on an element of attempted felony murder was fundamental error. In Thompson, however, as is obvious from the opinion, instructing the jury on attempted felony murder is far more complicated than instructing on possession of drugs, the crime in the present case. In Thompson, we concluded that the jury instruction given was confusing and misleading and that the “confusion requires reversal.” Id. at 1107. Accordingly we do not agree with appellant that a mistaken identity defense puts all elements of a crime in dispute so as to allow the failure to instruct on an element to be raised for the first time on appeal. Such an interpretation of Thompson would conflict with Del-va.

We therefore deny the motion for rehearing.

WARNER, KLEIN and STEVENSON, JJ., concur. . That language is:

Scott’s argument that he did not possess the drugs and had no knowledge of the drug's presence in his locker encompasses the argument that he was unaware of the illicit nature of the substance. With this kind of argument and defense, each element of the offense is a disputed element on which the jury must be instructed. Moreover, the requirement that an instruction must be given does not depend on the defense espoused. Because knowledge of the illicit nature is an element of the crime and the jury must be instructed on each element of the crime, an instruction must be given even when the defendant simply requires the State to prove its case and offers nothing by way of an affirmative defense.

Scott, 808 So. 2d at 171.


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Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Battle v. State, 911 So. 2d 85 (Fla. 2005)
    …ruct jury on statutory element that defendant must be eighteen or older to commit drug distribution first-degree murder under section 782.04(l)(a)(3) when it was undisputed that defendant was twenty-eight years old at time of crime); Davis v. State, 839 So. 2d 734, 736 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (stating that a mistaken identity defense does not place all elements of a crime in dispute so as to allow the failure to instruct on an element to be raised for the first time on appeal). Battle conceded the facts of the sh…
  • Garcia v. State, 901 So. 2d 788 (Fla. 2005)
    …defendant only contested identity); Rhinehart v. State, 840 So. 2d 456, 457 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (no fundamental error where defendant “did not present any evidence or argue that he did not know the illicit nature of the substance”); Davis v. State, 839 So. 2d 734 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (no fundamental error where defendant only contested identity); Ozell v. State, 837 So. 2d 559 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (no fundamental error where defendant only con [*800] tested identity); Lee v. State, 835 So. 2d 1177 (Fla. 4th DCA…
  • Garcia v. State, 854 So. 2d 758 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
    …ormer decision until such time as [the supreme court] recedes from the express holding”); see also Lee, 835 So. 2d at 1181 (noting that Delva and Scott “may conflict in this regard,” but holding that Delva remains binding precedent); Davis v. State, 839 So. 2d 734, 735 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (“We do not agree with appellant that there is a conflict between Scott and Delva because in Scott the error was preserved.”). Delva remains an authoritative and binding holding by the supreme court on the issue of fundamen…

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