Morrison v. State
Morrison v. State
Opinion of the Court
Demetrius L. Morrison appeals from the trial court’s judgment and sentence for
Morrison, a juvenile at the time, was charged with the first degree murder of Laurent Valme, but was found incompetent to stand trial based on his history of mental illness. Morrison was eventually deemed competent and went to trial. At trial, the state introduced Morrison’s voluntary confession to the police, but over defense’s proper objection, the trial court permitted the state to selectively redact those portions of Morrison’s statement referring to his mental illness and of being on medication for mental illness at the time he committed the crime. Although urged to do so, we cannot find this to be harmless error,
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
. The harmless error test, as explained in State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla. 1986), places the burden on the state, as the beneficiary of the error, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict or, alternatively, that there is no reasonable possibility that the error contributed to the conviction.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.