RANDY THOMAS v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: August 16, 2023
• Docket: 22-1372
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed August 16, 2023. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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No. 3D22-1372 Lower Tribunal Nos. F05-29247, F14-840, F06-22915 ________________

Randy Thomas, Appellant,

vs.

The State of Florida, Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Jose L. Fernandez, Judge.

Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Susan S. Lerner, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Magaly Rodriguez, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before EMAS, FERNANDEZ and BOKOR, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Warren v. State, 307 So. 3d 871, 872 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020)

(“[W]hile a trial judge is tasked with explaining to jurors the law they are to

apply, the trial judge should rely upon, and seldom stray from, Florida's

Standard Jury Instructions. This should not be interpreted as prohibiting a

trial judge from using a hypothetical that properly explains the law, but due

care must be taken in the process. . . . Trial judges must be ever mindful

‘that the high position which a judge holds in the scheme of the trial

magnifies, in the minds of the jurors, the meaning of comments by the

judge, to which he himself may not attach particular importance.’”) (quoting

Kellum v. State, 104 So. 2d 99, 104 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958)).