GREGORY P. POUK, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The court held that the trial court erred in failing to give a requested instruction on justifiable homicide when a manslaughter instruction was given.
Appellant was charged with second-degree murder and found guilty by a jury. The trial court instructed the jury on manslaughter but refused to instruc…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Manslaughter Instruction cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
The only point raised by appellant in this appeal which has merit is whether, as appellant contends, the trial court erred in failing to give his requested instruction on justifiable homicide. We agree with his contention and reverse.
The state of Florida charged appellant Gregory P. Pouk with second-degree murder in violation of Section 782.04(2), Florida Statutes. He pled not guilty, and after trial a jury found him guilty as charged. The trial judge sentenced appellant to serve five years in prison and suspended the last two years placing appellant on probation for that time.
The Supreme Court of Florida has held that when a trial court gives an instruction on manslaughter, as the court did here, it must also give an instruction on justifiable homicide and excusable homicide. Hedges v. State, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla.1965); see, also, Whitehead v. State, 245 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971); Green v. State, 244 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971). This is so even where there is no evidence to support a finding of justifiable or excusable homicide because manslaughter cannot be adequately defined without such an instruction. Hedges v. State, supra.
The state contends that appellant did not request a justifiable homicide instruction. We have reviewed the record and find that it does not support the state’s argument. Accordingly, we remand the case for a new trial.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
BOARDMAN, C. J., and OTT and DAN-AHY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Rojas v. State, 552 So. 2d 914 (Fla. 1989)…a substantial number of murder convictions have been set aside because of a Hedges error in the manslaughter instruction. E.g., Walker v. State, 520 So. 2d 606 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Niblack v. State, 451 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Pouk v. State, 359 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978). In Hedges, the failure to refer to justifiable and excusable homicide while defining manslaughter occurred when the jury requested a reinstruction on the different degrees of murder. However, subsequent cases have applied the sam…
-
Telesford Alejo v. State, 483 So. 2d 117 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986)…homicide is necessary to provide a complete instruction on the crime of manslaughter. Hedges v. State, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla.1965); Brown v. State, 467 So. 2d 323 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Niblack v. State, 451 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Pouk v. State, 359 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978). In addition, our supreme court has said that the term “culpable negligence” must be defined as part of the jury instruction on manslaughter. Campbell v. State, 306 So. 2d 482 (Fla.1975). We hold that the court’s failure to give…
-
Delaford v. State, 449 So. 2d 983 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)…se to give a requested jury instruction on excusable homicide. We agree. Manslaughter is a residual offense which excludes justifiable and excusable homicide. § 782.07, Fla.Stat. (1981); Hedges v. State, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla.1965). In Pouk v. State, 359 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978), this court ruled that the instruction on justifiable and excusable homicide must be given “even where there is no evidence to support a finding of justifiable or excusable homicide because manslaughter cannot be adequately define…
Previewing 3 of 10 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Whitney v. Colonial INN, 172 So. 2d 824 (Fla. 1965)
- Whitehead v. State, 245 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)
- Green v. State, 244 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)