CASES
Criminal law -- Battery on law enforcement officers -- Felony battery -- Resisting officer with violence -- Jury instructions -- Duress or necessity -- Language in instruction on duress or necessity stating that, if jury found that defendant committed the battery on law enforcement officer, felony battery, or resisting officer out of duress/necessity, the jury should find the defendant guilty if all the elements of the charge were proved was erroneous -- Issue not preserved for review where defendant agreed to the language -- Error was not fundamental -- Given entirety of duress or necessity instruction, court is convinced that any reasonable juror would have reached conclusion that error in last paragraph of extensive instruction was a scrivener's error -- Moreover, defendant did not assert duress or necessity defense to all ten counts, but only to seven counts arising out of his apprehension inside a house with a police dog; and jury convicted defendant on three counts, each of which involved an earlier encounter with deputy other than those involved in the confrontation in the house with defendant and the police dog Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D15a
Criminal law -- First appearance magistrate erroneously found that uniform traffic citation charging defendant with driving under influence was sufficient to establish probable cause for defendant's arrest and continued detention where citation did not include any facts indicating that defendant's normal faculties were impaired and showed that defendant's breath-alcohol level was 0.00 -- By itself, uniform traffic citation does not constitute evidence of guilt -- Circuit court departed from essential requirements of law in denying defendant's petition for writ of habeas corpus to review first appearance magistrate's finding -- Per curiam appellate decisions without written opinion have no precedential value, and circuit court departed from essential requirements of law when it applied such a decision to dispose of petition for writ of habeas corpus -- Appeals -- Where petition for writ of certiorari presents question capable of repetition yet evading review, appellate court has jurisdiction to hear merits even if the petition is moot because of defendant's release from jail -- Order denying defendant's petition established general principle that a uniform traffic citation, by itself, provides probable cause for a defendant's arrest and continued detention -- Because circuit court's application of incorrect law established a legal principle binding on lower courts that is neither fact-dependent nor fact-specific, circuit court's decision results in miscarriage of justice that warrants exercise of appellate court's certiorari jurisdiction
Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D4b
Criminal law -- Grand jury -- No error in denying motion to repress or expunge portion of grand jury presentment which referred to movant pursuant to statute which permits a person not charged with a crime the chance to prevent publication of “improper and unlawful” material -- Challenged language which was part of grand jury's investigation into conduct of public officials was not unlawful -- Challenged statements relating to unethical practices in the operation of city government were not improper Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D11a
Criminal law -- Murder -- Capital murder case in which state had given pretrial notice seeking death penalty -- Jury -- Sequestration during deliberations -- Trial court reversibly erred in denying defendant's request to sequester deliberating jury -- Unless record discloses exceptional circumstance of emergency, accident, or other special necessity, or unless the parties have formally waived requirement of sequestration on the record, trial judge has no discretion to deny sequestration, and failure to sequester deliberating jurors in a capital case is prejudicial error -- New trial required -- Self-defense -- Where state placed victim's character in issue with testimony of neighbor and detective which was intended to create impression that victim had reputation for peaceful conduct, trial court erred in preventing defendant from cross-examining neighbor as to neighbor's knowledge that victim had assaulted a police officer with a machete and had committed other violent crimes and from cross-examining detective concerning what detective knew about victim's several convictions for violent crimes -- Trial court cautioned in any retrial to avoid giving impression in jury instructions that defendant has burden of proof regarding self-defense
Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D13b
Criminal law -- Post conviction relief -- Claim that counsel was ineffective for failure to seek suppression of defendant's confession on ground that Miranda warnings given to defendant did not advise him of right to have counsel present during questioning -- Trial court did not err in denying motion as untimely -- Defendant cannot establish that there has been a fundamental change in constitutional law meriting retroactive application of cases holding such Miranda warnings to be defective, thus permitting extension of two-year time limitation for filing rule 3.850 motion, because neither Florida Supreme Court nor United States Supreme Court has ruled on issue
Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D3b
Criminal law -- Search and seizure -- Vehicle stop -- Stop of vehicle because of broken tag light was unlawful where one of two tag lights was operational, and tag was clearly visible -- Police did not have probable cause to believe that defendant had committed traffic violation Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D3a
Criminal law -- Statements of defendant -- Miranda warnings were sufficient where they advised defendant that he had right to presence of an attorney and did not include any time frame limitation -- Sentencing -- Trial court did not err in sentencing defendant as prison releasee reoffender where his prior commitments were juvenile commitments Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D4a Courtesy of Florida Law Weekly Subscriptions (800) 351-0917
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