FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

_____________________________

No. 1D17-316

_____________________________

CURTIS JAMES JACKSON,

Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

_____________________________

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Jackson County.

Shonna Young Gay, Judge.

August 10, 2018

PER CURIAM.

Curtis James Jackson appeals his conviction for aggravated 

battery with a firearm. He raises two issues on appeal, one of 

which we find meritorious. We reverse and remand for a new trial

because the trial court erred by not giving the jury instruction Mr. 

Jackson sought on the justifiable use of deadly force. 

Mr. Jackson and another man had an altercation at a 

nightclub that ended when Mr. Jackson shot and wounded the 

victim. The victim testified that he exchanged words with Mr. 

Jackson and “the next thing I know I had got shot.” Mr. Jackson 

on the other hand testified that the victim escalated the fight when 

he cornered Mr. Jackson against a wall and began punching him 

on both sides of the face. He claimed that one of the punches left 
2

him with nerve damage to his eye. More than that, he feared the 

victim’s punches could break his medically vulnerable neck and 

shoulder. He showed a scar at trial from a cervical surgery, and 

the jury viewed a video of his interrogation in which Mr. Jackson 

claimed to have had multiple prior neck and shoulder surgeries 

and expected additional surgery. Mr. Jackson testified that the 

victim punching him was a big guy.

Mr. Jackson asserts that on these facts it was error for the 

court to not give his requested instruction on justifiable use of 

deadly force. A criminal defendant “is entitled, upon request and 

by law, to have the jury instructed on his theory of defense if any 

evidence supports that theory, so long as the theory is valid under 

Florida law.” Goode v. State, 856 So. 2d 1101, 1104 (Fla. 1st DCA 

2003) (emphasis in original). “This is true even if the only evidence 

of the defense is provided by the defendant’s own testimony, and 

even if that testimony is weak or improbable.” Williams v. State, 

588 So. 2d 44, 45 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). In determining whether to

give the requested instruction, the court may not weigh the 

credibility of the evidence that supports giving the instruction. See

Chavers v. State, 901 So. 2d 409, 410 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005). “[I]t is 

enough if any evidence supports the defense.” Barnes v. State, 108 

So. 3d 700, 702 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013).

Florida law justifies the use of deadly force if someone 

“reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is 

necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to 

himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent 

commission of a forcible felony.” § 776.012(2), Fla. Stat. In most 

cases, a person in a fist fight lacks a sufficient justification to use 

deadly force. Here, however, we conclude that the jury could have 

viewed the combined evidence “as reasonably suggestive of a 

threat [of imminent death or great bodily harm] to a person in 

appellant’s position.” Chavers, 901 So. 2d at 411. 

We therefore REVERSE the judgment and sentence and 

REMAND for a new trial. 

WOLF, OSTERHAUS, and WINSOR, JJ., concur.
3

_____________________________

Not final until disposition of any timely and 

authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 

9.331.

_____________________________

Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and M.J. Lord, Assistant Public 

Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Steven E. Woods,

Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.