Willoughby v. State

218 So. 3d 935, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 18434
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided December 14, 2016·No. No. 4D15-1524·Published

Opinion

Gerber, J,

The defendant appeals from his convictions for burglary of a dwelling and grand theft of property valued at more-than $300, The defendant argues the trial court erred in two respects: (1). denying the defén-[936]*936dant’s motion for mistrial when the trial court unilaterally and errantly did not allow defense counsel to ask prospective jurors during voir dire if, in the absence of any evidence from the State, they could “believe” the defendant was innocent; and (2) denying the defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal on the grand theft charge when the state failed to prove that the value of the stolen property was more than $300. On the first argument, we affirm. On- the second argument, we agree with the defendant and therefore reverse the grand theft conviction and remand to enter judgment and sentence for petit theft.

We write to address only the first argument. We present this opinion in three parts:

1. the procedural history; -
2. why the court erred in not allowing defense counsel to ask prospective jurors during voir dire if, in the absence of any evidence from the State, they could “believe” the defendant was innocent; and
3. why the court did not err in denying the defendant’s motion for mistrial.

1. Procedural History

During voir dire, the trial court instructed the jury on the presumption of innocence as follows:

In the United States, all defendants are presumed innocent. The presumption of innocence remains with the defendant throughout the course of the trial. It is up to the State to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Right now, the defendant is presumed innocent and he will remain so, unless and until the State proves otherwise. If I were to ask you right now to reach a verdict, your verdict would have to be not guilty. That is because, at this point, the State has not presented any evidence against the defendant.

During defense counsel’s questioning of the venire, defense counsel reiterated the presumption of innocence and began asking individual prospective jurors if, before the presentation of evidence, “Do you believe this man is innocent?” The first eight prospective jurors answered yes. When defense counsel questioned the ninth prospective juror, the following discussion occurred:

Defense Counsel: Do you believe this man is innocent?
Ninth Prospective Juror: Presumably. Defense Counsel: Okay. Playing with the words, but okay.
Ninth Prospective Juror: Presumed innocent.
Court: Actually, “presumed” is the word that comes straight from the instruction. Not “believe” ....

(quotation marks added). Defense counsel requested to come sidebar, where the following discussion occurred:

Defense Counsel: If they don’t believe he’s innocent, they don’t believe in the law.
Court: I think this confuses'the line of questioning. The State didn’t object but the ljuror] brought it up. There’s nowhere in the jury instruction where it says what you believe, what they believe. Defense Counsel: ... [The juror] didn’t bring it up.
Court: [The juror] just said it and you said played on the words.
Defense Counsel: ... [T]his bench is now taking a position that—I mean, taken the State’s position that clearly, the State did not object....
Court: I guess for you to ask them what they believe is not relevant. They must presume him innocent at this point. You [937]*937must presume him innocent. What their personal belief is—
Defense Counsel: I’m not asking for their personal belief.
Court: Do you believe that—
Defense Counsel: Do you believe that he’s innocent right now. That’s perfectly permissible.
Court: I disagree. I’m going to ask you to read it straight from the book on the presumption. ...
[[Image here]]
Defense Counsel: Judge, I find this highly irregular that the Court is doing this without the State objecting and 1 am requesting a mistrial.

(emphasis added).

The court overruled defense counsel’s objection without ruling on his motion for mistrial. The court then instructed defense counsel: “Read it straight from the book.” Instead of doing so, defense counsel asked the remaining prospective jurors if they “presume[d] this man innocent.”

At the end of defense counsel’s questioning, defense counsel renewed his motion for mistrial based on the trial court having intervened to prevent him from asking prospective jurors if, before the presentation of evidence, they could “believe” the defendant was innocent. Defense counsel pointed the court to Florida Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) 3.7, which states, in pertinent part:

The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty. This means you must presume or believe the defendant is innocent,

(emphasis added). The court denied the motion for mistrial.

This appeal followed. The defendant argues the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial when the trial court unilaterally and errantly did not allow the defendant’s counsel to ask prospective jurors if, in the absence of any evidence from the State, they could “believe” the defendant was innocent. We review the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion for mistrial for an abuse of discretion. See Evans v. State, 177 So.3d 1219, 1234 (Fla. 2015) (“[W]here the trial court denied a motion for mistrial, we review that ruling under an abuse of discretion standard.”).

2. Why the court erred in not allowing defense counsel to ask prospective jurors during voir dire if, in the absence of any evidence from the State, they could “believe” the defendant was innocent.

As an initial matter, we conclude the trial court erred in not allowing the defendant’s counsel to ask, from the ninth prospective juror forward, if, in the absence of any evidence from the State, she could “believe” the defendant was innocent. Florida Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) 3.7 (2013) states, in pertinent part:

The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty. This means you must presume or believe the defendant is innocent. The presumption stays with the defendant as to each material allegation in the [information] [indictment] through each stage of the trial unless it has been overcome by the evidence to the exclusion of and beyond a reasonable doubt.

Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.7 (2015) (emphasis added). Given Instruction 3.7’s use of the word “believe,” the court should have allowed the defendant’s counsel to ask prospective jurors if, in the absence of any evidence from the State, they could “believe” the defendant was innocent.

3. Why the court did not err in denying the defendant’s motion for mistrial.

The court’s error was not so prejudicial as to require a mistrial. See Pagan v. [938]

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Willoughby v. State, 218 So. 3d 935, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 18434 (Fla. Ct. App. 2016).

218 So. 3d 935 (Willoughby v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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