Opinion ID: 1832580
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: recent history of the standard instruction on entrapment in florida

Text: In October 1993, this Court issued its decision in Munoz. See 629 So.2d at 90. In that case, the Court analyzed Florida's entrapment statute, section 777.201, Florida Statutes, the current version [1] of which provides: (1) A law enforcement officer, a person engaged in cooperation with a law enforcement officer, or a person acting as an agent of a law enforcement officer perpetrates an entrapment if, for the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of a crime, he or she induces or encourages and, as a direct result, causes another person to engage in conduct constituting such crime by employing methods of persuasion or inducement which create a substantial risk that such crime will be committed by a person other than one who is ready to commit it. (2) A person prosecuted for a crime shall be acquitted if the person proves by a preponderance of the evidence that his or her criminal conduct occurred as a result of an entrapment. The issue of entrapment shall be tried by the trier of fact. § 777.201, Fla. Stat. (1999). After tracing the development of the entrapment defense under both federal and Florida law, see 629 So.2d at 91-98, this Court found that the Florida Legislature, by enacting section 777.201, had codified the subjective test [of entrapment] delineated by the United States Supreme Court as the means for determining the application of that defense. Id. at 99. This Court then explained the various burdens of proof involved in the subjective test for entrapment delineated by the United States Supreme Court: As indicated under the federal cases discussed above, the application of the subjective test is the test articulated by Judge Hand in [ United States v.] Sherman[, 200 F.2d 880, 882-83 (2d Cir. 1952)], as further explained by the United States Supreme Court in [United States v.] Jacobson. Three principles arise under this test. The first two involve questions of fact and differing burdens of proof.... The first question to be addressed under the subjective test is whether an agent of the government induced the accused to commit the offense charged. On this issue, the accused has the burden of proof and, pursuant to section 777.201, must establish this factor by a preponderance of the evidence. If the first question is answered affirmatively, then a second question arises as to whether the accused was predisposed to commit the offense charged; that is, whether the accused was awaiting any propitious opportunity or was ready and willing, without persuasion, to commit the offense. On this second question, according to our decision in Herrera, the defendant initially has the burden to establish lack of predisposition. However, as soon as the defendant produces evidence of no predisposition, the burden then shifts to the prosecution to rebut this evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Munoz, 629 So.2d at 99. Almost five years after issuing Munoz, this Court approved for publication a modified version of the standard instruction on entrapment, with such modification being made to accurately reflect the burden of proof analysis set forth in Munoz. See Standard Jury Instructions, 723 So.2d at 123, 142-43 (effective July 16, 1998). Specifically, the Court approved for publication the following language: On the issue of entrapment, the defendant must prove to you by the greater weight of the evidence that a law enforcement officer or agent induced or encouraged the crime charged. Greater weight of the evidence means that evidence which is more persuasive and convincing. If the defendant does so, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was predisposed to commit the (crime charged). The [S]tate must prove defendant's predisposition to commit the (crime charged) existed prior to and independent of the [i]nducement or encouragement. Id. at 142-43. This instruction, as modified, is the current standard instruction on entrapment in Florida. See Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.04(c) at 43. [2] Prior to its recent modification, however, the standard instruction on entrapment provided: On the issue of entrapment, the defendant must prove to you by a preponderance of the evidence that his criminal conduct occurred as the result of entrapment. In re Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases, 543 So.2d 1205, 1210 (Fla.1989). After Munoz was decided, several district courts considered the propriety of this pre-modified instruction and concluded that, considering Munoz, such instruction did not accurately reflect the current status of Florida law on entrapment. See, e.g., Vazquez, 700 So.2d at 13; Broker v. State, 726 So.2d 307, 307 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). Recognizing the inaccuracy of the pre-modified standard instruction on entrapment, the First District in the decision below and the Fourth District in Miller proceeded to address whether, after Munoz, giving such instruction constituted fundamental error that could be reviewed for the first time on appeal. See Holiday, 730 So.2d at 830; Miller, 723 So.2d at 354-55. As stated above, the courts in Miller and Holiday reached different conclusions on this issue, see Miller, 723 So.2d at 354-55 (holding that trial court committed fundamental error by instructing the jury with the pre-modified standard instruction); Holiday, 730 So.2d at 830 (reaching opposite conclusion and certifying conflict with Miller ), and we are now called upon to resolve the conflict between those decisions.