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02/23/2017
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DISP-AMENDED/ADOPTED IN PART
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FSC-OPINION: Having considered the Committee's report, we authorize amended standard jury instructions 7.8, 7.8(a), 9.1, 9.2, 18.3, and 28.18 for publication and use, with the following modifications. In instructions 7.8 and 28.18, the statutory citations to the definition of "vehicle" are revised to reference the correct statute.
We decline to authorize amended instruction 20.18(a) as proposed by the Committee. The Committee proposes to simplify the explanations of actual possession, constructive possession, mere proximity, joint possession, inferences of possession, and exceptions to inferences of possession of personal identification information in instruction 20.18(a) by replacing all of the explanations with what the Committee considers a single, simpler explanation of "possession." The Committee expresses the belief that the existing explanations of the types of possession and inferences of possession in the instruction are deficient and confusing; however, the Court is unaware of any case law that has held the current explanations of possession deficient. Deciding such substantive matters is appropriate for this Court only within the context of an actual case or controversy. See art. V, § 3(b), Fla. Const.; In re Std. Jury Instrs. in Crim. Cases-Report No. 2015-05, 195 So. 3d 1088, 1089 (Fla. 2016). We therefore decline to authorize amended instruction 20.18(a) for publication and use.
The amended criminal jury instructions, as set forth in the appendix to this opinion, are hereby authorized for publication and use. New language is indicated by underlining; deleted language is indicated by struck-through type. In authorizing the publication and use of these instructions, we express no opinion on their correctness and remind all interested parties that this authorization forecloses neither requesting additional or alternative instructions nor contesting the legal correctness of the instructions. We further caution all interested parties that any comments associated with the instructions reflect only the opinion of the Committee and are not necessarily indicative of the views of this Court as to their correctness or applicability. The instructions as set forth in the appendix shall be effective when this opinion becomes final.
It is so ordered.
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