VIVIAN L. MCCORMICK, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Vivian McCormick was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. The Florida appellate court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the trial court committed reversible error by failing to summarize self-defense instructions when the jury requested a clarification of the jury instructions during deliberations.
The trial court committed reversible error by omitting a summary of self-defense from its reinstructions to the jury. When a trial court reinstructs a jury during deliberations, it must include instructions on self-defense and justifiable homicide if those issues are relevant to the case and were part of the original jury instructions.
[1] A trial court commits reversible error when it fails to include a summary of self-defense instructions in a jury's supplemental instructions after the jury has requested…
[2] When a jury requests a summary of jury instructions, the trial court must provide a complete and accurate summary, including all relevant defenses previously instructed u…
Previewing 2 of 3 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“the trial court should have included the instructions requested by the defendant concerning justifiable homicide and self defense when it reinstructed the jury. Failure of the trial court to so instruct left the jury with an incomplete and potentially misleading instruction, and constituted reversible error.”
Establishes the core holding that omitting self-defense instructions from jury reinstructions constitutes reversible error
Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMcCormick was charged by indictment with first-degree murder. At the close of evidence, the trial court instructed the jury on all degrees of unlawful…
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CROSS, Judge.
Appellant-defendant, Vivian McCormick, appeals a judgment of conviction and sentence for murder in the second degree. We reverse.
The appellant-defendant, Vivian McCormick, was charged by indictment with murder in the first degree. At the conclusion of the evidence, the court instructed the jury on all degrees of unlawful homicide and also on justifiable homicide and excusable homicide. Shortly after beginning its deliberations, the jury requested the court to summarize the jury instructions. Pursuant to this request the court summarized for the jury the elements of murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and manslaughter. The defendant objected to the trial court’s omission of a summary on homicide committed in self defense.
The jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree. Judgment was entered accordingly by the court, and the defendant was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. It is from this judgment and sentence that the defendant appeals.
The question presented for our determination in this appeal is whether the trial court committed reversible error in failing to include in its summarization of the jury instructions a summary of homicide committed in self defense.
The circumstances of the instant case are analogous to those in the case of Stills v. State, 272 So. 2d 174 (Fla.App.1973). In Stills the court properly instructed the jury at the conclusion of the evidence on all degrees of unlawful homicide and also on justifiable homicide and excusable homicide. After some deliberation, one of the jurors requested the court to reread the instructions on first and second degree murder. Defense counsel then requested that the court reinstruct the jury on justifiable homicide and self defense. This request was refused. The trial court reread only the first and second degree murder instructions to the jury. On appeal, the appellate court concluded that the trial court should have included the instructions requested by the defendant concerning justifiable homicide and self defense when it reinstructed the jury. Failure of the trial court to so instruct left the jury with an incomplete and potentially misleading instruction, and constituted reversible error. See also Brown v. State, 294 So. 2d 347 (Fla.App.1974); Martin v. State, 294 So. 2d 414 (Fla.App.1974).
Accordingly, the judgment appealed herein is reversed, and the cause is remanded for a new trial.
Reversed and remanded.
OWEN, C. J., and DOWNEY, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Gonzalez v. State, 502 So. 2d 66 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)…ng Gonzalez’ request to re-instruct the jury on self-defense, and this was not misleading. See Bristow, 338 So. 2d at 556; see also Cheatham v. State, 346 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977). Gonzalez contends that this conflicts with McCormick v. State, 308 So. 2d 126 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). In McCormick, the district court held that it was error for the trial court to omit an instruction on self-defense in recharging the jury. McCormick is distinguishable, however, from the present case. In McCormick, the jury requ…
Authorities Cited
- GAY v. State, 272 So. 2d 174 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973)
- Stills v. State, 272 So. 2d 174 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973)
- Brown v. State, 294 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974)
- Rayfield Martin v. State, 294 So. 2d 414 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974)