From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Reese v. State

Supreme Court of Florida
Jul 11, 1985
476 So. 2d 129 (Fla. 1985)

Opinion

No. 65633.

July 11, 1985.

Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal — Certified Great Public Importance.

Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender and Anthony Calvello and Robert E. Adler, Asst. Public Defenders, West Palm Beach, for petitioner.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Russell S. Bohn, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for respondent.


The Fourth District Court of Appeal certified to this Court the following question:

If the state has the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant was sane at the time of the offense when the defense of insanity has been raised, is the giving of the present insanity instruction, as set forth in standard jury instruction 3.04(b), along with the general reasonable doubt instruction sufficient, notwithstanding the defendant having specifically requested the court to instruct the jury that the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was sane at the time of the offense?
Reese v. State, 452 So.2d 1079 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). We have answered this question in Yohn v. State, 476 So.2d 123 (Fla. 1985). Therefore, on its authority, we quash the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in this case and remand with instructions to further remand to the trial court for new trial.

It is so ordered.

BOYD, C.J., and McDONALD and SHAW, JJ., concur.

ALDERMAN, J., dissents with an opinion, in which EHRLICH, J., concurs.

OVERTON, J., dissents.


I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissent in Yohn v. State, 476 So.2d 123 (Fla. 1985), and would approve the decision of the Fourth District.

EHRLICH, J., concurs.


Summaries of

Reese v. State

Supreme Court of Florida
Jul 11, 1985
476 So. 2d 129 (Fla. 1985)
Case details for

Reese v. State

Case Details

Full title:BETTY REESE, PETITIONER, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Court:Supreme Court of Florida

Date published: Jul 11, 1985

Citations

476 So. 2d 129 (Fla. 1985)

Citing Cases

Yohn v. State

See, e.g., United States v. Jackson, 587 F.2d 852, 854 (6th Cir. 1978). It is true, as the state argues in a…

State v. Cohen

The Florida Supreme Court determined that the burden of proving insanity should not be placed on the…