Bowen v. State, 94-1112
| Decision Date | 24 May 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-1112,94-1112 |
| Parties | 20 Fla. L. Weekly D1239 Harris BOWEN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender and Susan D. Cline, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee and Joseph A. Tringali, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Appellant, Harris Bowen, was tried by jury and convicted of attempted manslaughter. Bowen argues that the trial court erred (1) in denying his requested modifications to the standard jury instruction on self defense and (2) in entering a restitution order without holding a hearing. We reject Bowen's argument that there was error in the jury charge but agree that the restitution order must be vacated.
At trial, appellant claimed self defense. He requested the trial court to instruct the jury that "the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant did not act in self defense." The trial court refused this special request. We find that the trial court did not err in failing to give appellant's requested instruction in view of the instructions which were given. The trial court gave the standard jury instruction which reads in part:
If in your consideration of the issue of self defense you have a reasonable doubt on the question of whether or not the Defendant was justified in the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm, you should find the Defendant not guilty. However, if from the evidence you are convinced that the Defendant was not justified in the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm, you should find him guilty if all of the elements have been proven.
See Fla.Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.04(d).
Because the jury was told that appellant must be acquitted if there was any reasonable doubt concerning his justification in using force against the alleged victim, there was no reasonable possibility that the jury was misled in regard to the prosecution's burden of proof. See Cronin v. State, 470 So.2d 802 (Fla.4th DCA 1985) ().
Likewise, appellant's contention that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that "a defendant has no duty to retreat when attacked in his...
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...is required, he neglected to even acknowledge the cases in which the argument has been expressly rejected. In Bowen v. State, 655 So.2d 1208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), the appellant argued that the trial court erred in denying his request to instruct the jury that the state must prove beyond a re......
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...been misled by the failure to give that instruction." Cronin v. State, 470 So.2d 802, 804 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); see also Bowen v. State, 655 So.2d 1208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). We find that such a possibility exists in the instant With respect to the disorderly conduct charge, the jury was instr......
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Roger v. State, 94-2548
...the jury that the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant had not acted in self-defense. See Bowen v. State, 655 So.2d 1208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). The trial court properly denied a "castle" instruction which would have instructed the jury that the defendant had no duty to ......