BERNARD HILLS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Bernard Hills appeals his conviction for burglary and petit theft, challenging the validity of the jury verdict form. The appellate court reversed and remanded for a new trial, finding that the verdict form lacked a clear "not guilty" option for the burglary charge, creating ambiguity about the jury's verdict.
The court held that the trial court fundamentally erred in submitting a verdict form lacking a clear not guilty option for the burglary charge, reversing the conviction and remanding for a new trial on count one.
[1] A verdict form that fails to provide a clear option for a "not guilty" verdict on a charged offense is fundamentally defective.
[2] A court cannot infer or assume a jury's interpretation when there is a critical deficiency in the verdict process.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Where there is a critical deficiency in the verdict process, a court cannot infer or assume the jury's interpretation.”
Establishes the standard for reviewing verdict form defects
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHills was tried on two counts: burglary of an unoccupied structure and petit theft. Both parties agreed to a verdict form at the jury instruction conf…
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GERSTEN, C.J.
Bernard Hills (“Hills”) appeals his conviction and sentence for burglary and petit theft, alleging a defect in the verdict form. We reverse.
Hills was tried on two counts: count one for burglary of an unoccupied structure, and count two for petit theft. At the jury instruction charge conference, both sides agreed to the following verdict form:
VERDICT
We the jury, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, this_day of_,_, find the defendant, BERNARD HILLS,
COUNT 1:
GUILTY OF BURGLARY TO AN UNOCCUPIED STRUCTURE. [OR]
GUILTY OF TRESPASS, as a lesser included offense.
GUILTY OF PETIT THEFT
NOT GUILTY
So say we all,
Foreperson
While instructing the jury, the trial judge noticed that the form did not separate the two counts. Therefore, the trial judge wrote in “COUNT 2” above the third box, guilty of petit theft. Apparently, no one noticed that count one did not have a box for the jury to mark “not guilty” on the burglary charge. The jury checked off the first box under “COUNT 1” and the first box under the written-in “COUNT 2.”
On appeal, Hills asserts that the trial court fundamentally erred in submitting a verdict form that did not contain an option for not guilty on the burglary charge. The State, on the other hand, contends that there was no error. The State posits that if the jury had wanted to acquit the defendant on the burglary charge, it could simply have left both boxes under “COUNT 1” empty. We agree with Hills, and reverse and remand for a new trial.
Where there is a critical deficiency in the verdict process, a court cannot infer or assume the jury’s interpretation. See Braley v. Gladden, 403 F. 2d 858 (9th Cir.1968). In Braley, as here, the trial court inadvertently failed to supply the jury with a form for a not guilty verdict. 403 F. 2d at 859. The court reversed for a retrial, reasoning:
While it may not be unreasonable to assume that the jury inferred from the instructions that it might be empowered to write its own form of a verdict of not guilty, it is equally reasonable to assume that the jury inferred that the judge intended that only one verdict was possible, a verdict of guilty upon the one and only form which he supplied.
403 F. 2d at 860.
Here, although the trial court orally instructed the jury that it could return a verdict of not guilty, the verdict form did not give the jury a clear option to find the defendant not guilty on the burglary charge. Additionally, the trial court instructed the jury that “[o]nly one verdict maybe[sic] returned as to ... each crime charged.” Thus, we are not certain that the jury understood its options, authority, or responsibility on the burglary count. The jury could have been confused as to whether they could find the defendant not guilty on this count. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial on count one, burglary of an unoccupied structure.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.