REGINALD COCHRAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1963-02-19
No. D-330
CARROLL, DONALD K., C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur.
150 So. 2d 249 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1963) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

Reginald Cochran was convicted of grand larceny by jury verdict. On appeal, he challenged the sufficiency of evidence and argued the trial court erred in refusing to give a requested jury instruction about the credibility of accomplice testimony. The appellate court affirmed, finding sufficient evidence and holding that while defendants have a right to an accomplice-caution instruction, the requested instruction was impermissibly broad.


Holding

The court held that while a defendant has a statutory right to a jury instruction that accomplice testimony should be received with great caution, the trial court did not err in refusing the requested instruction because it was impermissibly broad and would have constituted an improper expression of judicial opinion on the weight of evidence. The sufficiency of the evidence was not challenged successfully.


Key Quotes

“an accused has a right as matter of law to have the trial court instruct the jury that the testimony of an accomplice, as well as his own confessions, should be received with great caution”

Establishes the fundamental right to accomplice-caution instruction under Florida law

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Facts & Procedural History

Cochran and five others were charged with grand larceny. One defendant was never apprehended; three entered pleas of nolo contendere; and the case pro…

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Opinion of the Court
WIGGINTON, Judge.

WIGGINTON, Judge.

Appellant, together with five other defendants, were jointly charged with the offense of grand larceny. One of the defendants was never apprehended and the case proceeded to trial against the remaining five defendants. After the trial commenced, three of the defendants entered a plea of nolo contendere. The trial proceeded against appellant and one Woodrow “Red” Grisette, which culminated in a jury verdict of guilty as charged. From a judgment and sentence based upon a jury verdict, defendant Cochran has appealed.

The principal point urged for reversal is that the evidence is insufficient to establish appellants’ guilt as required by law. We have carefully reviewed the record and find sufficient competent evidence from which the jury could have reached the verdict here assaulted. The judgment is not vulnerable to attack on this ground.

*250In order to establish defendant’s alleged guilt the State of Florida called as a witness a police officer who confessed implication in the transaction which formed the subject of this prosecution. At the conclusion of the evidence appellant requested the court in writing to charge the jury with respect to the weight which should be given to the testimony of an accomplice, which request was denied.

The charge requested by appellant, the denial of which is assigned as error, is as follows:

“The witness, Earl McCombs, by his own testimony has admitted that he was a party to an illegal transaction. He is an accomplice. His testimony is subject to suspicion, and for that reason you are to scrutinize it very closely and accept it with great caution for the purpose of determining whether it was not molded and colored to shift the blame to the other defendants or to some of the Defendants, and thus further his own interest, or to save and protect himself, either now or in the future, in respect to another prosecution that he may fear.”

In Anthony v. State, the Supreme Court held that “By statute in this state * * * trial judges are restricted in charging juries to the law of the case, and cannot intimate to them their views as to the effect, weight, or credibility of the evidence. Notwithstanding this statute, it has been decided in this state that an accused has a right as matter of law to have the trial court instruct the jury that the testimony of an accomplice, as well as his own confessions, should be received with great caution. * * * To this extent the trial court should go as to such testimony,, and a refusal to so charge when requested will be error.” 1 Although appellant was unquestionably entitled to a charge by the court that the jury should receive the testimony of the accomplice with great caution, he was not entitled to a charge as broad as the one requested by him. The request went beyond the requirements of law, and would have constituted an expression of opinion by the court as to the weight or lack of weight which the jury should give to the testimony of this witness. It is our view that the court did not err in denying defendant’s requested instruction because of the form in which it was submitted.

We have considered the remaining point on appeal but find it to be without substantial merit. The judgment appealed is accordingly affirmed.

Affirmed.

CARROLL, DONALD K., C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Woodrow "Red" Grisette v. State, 152 So. 2d 498 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963)
    …WIGGINTON, Judge. This isi a companion case to that of Reginald Cochran v. State of Florida, Fla. App., 150 So. 2d 249, in which the court has today filed an opinion affirming the judgment appealed. Appellant Grisette, together with five other defendants, were jointly charged with the offense of grand larceny. One defendant was never found and the case proceeded to…
  • Dupree v. State, 195 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967)
    …timony, the defendant is entitled to have the jury charged that such evidence should be received with great caution. Peterson v. State, 1928, 95 Fla. 925, 117 So. 227; Weiss v. State, Fla.App.1960, 124 So. 2d 528; and Cochran v. State, Fla.App.1963, 150 So. 2d 249. In this present appeal the judge instructed the jury on Florida law concerning the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice and also gave a cautionary charge concerning this testimony. Based on the above authorities, there was no error in the char…

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