Opinion ID: 1628715
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Denial of Requested Guilt Phase Jury Instruction

Text: Jackson alleges that the trial court erred in denying his request for a special jury instruction regarding circumstantial evidence. In 1981, this Court amended the standard jury instructions to remove a circumstantial evidence instruction as part of the standard jury instructions. See In re Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, 431 So.2d 594, 595 (Fla.1981). Jackson contends that the trial court committed error by failing to provide this instruction because, in his case, this instruction would have supported his theory of the case. This Court has rejected similar arguments that it is error to deny a special jury instruction on circumstantial evidence. See, e.g., Floyd v. State, 850 So.2d 383, 400 (Fla.2002) (rejecting the claim that the defendant was entitled to the former standard instruction on circumstantial evidence because when proper instructions on reasonable doubt and burden of proof are given, an instruction on circumstantial evidence is `unnecessary'); Branch v. State, 685 So.2d 1250, 1252-53 (Fla.1996) (holding it was not error to refuse to use former standard instruction on circumstantial evidence where jury was fully instructed on reasonable doubt and burden of proof). Thus, we reject this argument.