observing that "[t]he elimination of the current standard instruction on circumstantial evidence does not totally prohibit such an instruction if a trial judge, in his or her discretion, feels that such is necessary under the peculiar facts of a specific case," but that "the giving of proposed instructions on reasonable doubt and burden of proof ... renders an instruction on circumstantial evidence unnecessary"
How later courts described this case
- observing that "[t]he elimination of the current standard instruction on circumstantial evidence does not totally prohibit such an instruction if a trial judge, in his or her discretion, feels that such is necessary under the peculiar facts of a specific case," but that "the giving of proposed instructions on reasonable doubt and burden of proof ... renders an instruction on circumstantial evidence unnecessary"
- recognizing there could be improvement in the manner in which a case is presented to the jury on alternate theories of felony murder and premeditated murder and suggesting use of special verdict forms as a solution
- rejecting the special standard for evaluating circumstantial evidence as “confusing and incorrect”
- giving of reasonable doubt instruction renders instruction on circumstantial evidence unnecessary
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
SUNDBERG, Chief Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in all parts of the majority opinion except that part which approves reduction of lesser included offenses from four to two categories. Such a practice, I believe, will result in taking “a most critical eviden-tiary matter from the proper province of the jury and vesting] it improperly as a matter of law with the trial judge.” Hand v. State, 199 So.2d 100, 102 (Fla.1967); see Lomax v. State, 345 So.2d 719 (Fla.1977). To distinguish between “ample evidence to support a guilty verdict on the higher offense” on the one hand and a “total lack of evidence of the lesser offense” on the other simply is not meaningful to me. Hence, I dissent to the proposed change in rules 3.510 and 3.490, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.