KELLY STEVENS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2008-05-30
No. 5D07-1610
SAWAYA, TORPY and EVANDER, JJ., concur.
982 So. 2d 1239 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2008)

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Synopsis

Kelly Stevens appealed his convictions for battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence, challenging the sufficiency of the jury instruction on the resisting officer count. The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that the instruction properly charged the jury with determining whether the arrest was based on probable cause and therefore lawful, rather than directing a verdict for the State.


Holding

The instruction was not erroneous. Unlike the instruction in Smith, which provided that detaining a defendant constitutes lawful execution of a legal duty, the instruction here expressly charged the jury with the responsibility of determining whether the arrest was based upon probable cause and therefore lawful.


Headnotes

[1] A jury instruction stating that an officer's act of arresting a defendant based on probable cause constitutes a lawful execution of a legal duty does not improperly direc…

[2] A jury instruction properly charges the jury with the responsibility of determining whether an arrest was based upon probable cause and, therefore, lawful.

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Key Quotes

“If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that [the police officers] were engaged in the act of arresting the defendant based on probable cause, such conduct constitutes a lawful execution of a legal duty.”

This is the actual jury instruction provided at trial, which the court found did not improperly direct a verdict because it expressly required the jury to determine whether arrest was based on probable cause.

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Facts & Procedural History

Stevens was arrested and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence. The trial court provided jury instru…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant challenges his convictions for battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence. Although Appellant raises other issues, we determine that only one issue merits dis cussion. Citing our decision in Smith v. State, 907 So. 2d 582 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005), Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the jury instruction on the resisting officer without violence count.1 In Smith, the objectionable component of the jury charge provided “that detaining defendant constitutes lawful execution of a legal duty.” We held that this charge was error because it “took the issue of the lawfulness of [the defendant’s] arrest from the jury and directed a verdict for the State.” Id. at 585.

Here, the charge is not similarly erroneous. It provides as follows:

If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that [the police officers] were engaged in the act of arresting the defendant based on probable cause, such conduct constitutes a lawful execution of a legal duty.

“Probable cause” exists where the totality of the facts and circumstances within an officer’s knowledge would cause a person of reasonable caution to believe that a criminal offense had been committed by the person who was being arrested.

(Emphasis supplied). This charge does not direct the jury to reach a conclusion on the issue of the lawfulness of the arrest. It expressly charges the jury with the responsibility of determining whether the arrest was based upon probable cause and, therefore, lawful.2

We have carefully reviewed the other issues raised by Appellant and find them to be without merit.

AFFIRMED.

SAWAYA, TORPY and EVANDER, JJ., concur. . Appellant’s challenge is actually directed to the instruction on the battery count. It is clear from Appellant’s argument, however, that the purportedly objectionable language is contained in the resisting an officer charge, not the battery charge.

. We do not interpret Smith to hold that the mere reference to “the defendant” constitutes reversible error. Although it might have been preferable to use a more generic reference like "arrest of an individual," the use of this instruction in this case adequately informed the jury of the law without usurping the jury’s responsibility to determine if the arrest was lawful. For this reason, we distinguish cases such as Royster v. State, 643 So. 2d 61 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994), and Hierro v. State, 608 So. 2d 912 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992).


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