In re Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases—Report No. 2012-05

Summary

The Florida Supreme Court authorizes the publication and use of several new and amended standard criminal jury instructions proposed by its Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases. The Court declines to authorize instruction 11.1 concerning sexual battery of a victim under 12 and refers it back to the Committee for further consideration. The opinion also modifies the proposed language of instruction 8.7(d) concerning aggravated stalking.

Holdings

1. The Court authorized the new, amended, and renumbered criminal jury instructions identified in the opinion for publication and use, subject to the Court's modifications and its refusal to authorize instruction 11.1.
2. Instruction 11.1 was not authorized for publication and use and was referred back to the Committee for further consideration.
3. Instruction 8.7(d) was authorized for publication and use only after amendment of its first element to state that the defendant was sentenced for sexual battery, violating section 800.04, or violating section 847.0135(5), Florida Statutes.
4. Authorization for publication and use does not foreclose a request for an additional or alternative instruction or a challenge to the legal correctness or applicability of an authorized instruction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Court should authorize the proposed new, amended, and renumbered criminal jury instructions for publication and use.
2. Whether proposed instruction 11.1 should be authorized despite unsupported statements concerning consent, chastity, and mistake of age and the duplicate classification of battery as both a category-one and category-two lesser-included offense.
3. Whether proposed instruction 8.7(d) accurately stated the statutory predicate offenses for aggravated stalking under section 784.048(7), Florida Statutes.

Disposition

other