Provow v. State
Provow v. State
Concurring Opinion
specially concurring.
This latest and/or issue has arisen because the standard jury instruction for the charge of resisting officer with violence, upon which the trial court apparently relied below, has been outdated since the supreme court’s holding in Wallace v. State, 724 So.2d 1176 (Fla. 1998).
As the majority opinion states, Wallace holds that a defendant’s continuous violent resistance of multiple officers constitutes only one instance of resisting. Id. at 1181. However, the standard jury instruction for the charge of resisting an officer with violence does not contemplate the possibility that one instance of resisting may involve multiple officers. Instead, the standard jury instruction recommends that a trial court insert the name of only one officer as the “victim” of the offense:
21.1 RESISTING OFFICER WITH VIOLENCE
§ 843.01, Fla. Stat.
To prove the crime of Resisting Officer with Violence, the State must prove the following four elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
1. (Defendant) knowingly and willfully [resisted] [obstructed] [opposed] (victim) by [offering to do [him][her] violence] [doing violence to [him][her]].
*1137 2. At the time, (victim) was engaged in the [execution of legal process] [lawful execution of a legal duty].
3. At the time, (victim) was [an officer] [a person legally authorized to execute process],
4. At the time, (Defendant) knew (victim) was [an officer] [a person legally authorized to execute process].
The court now instructs you that every (name of official position of victim designated in charge) is an officer within the meaning of this law.
“Offering” to do violence means threatening to do violence.
Because the standard jury instruction does not contemplate the possibility of there being more than one “victim” of the single offense, it is understandable that trial courts have had difficulty applying the standard instruction to the multiple officer situation. See Love v. State, 971 So.2d 280, 288 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (“The ‘and/or’ instruction on the resisting count presents similar problems.”).
To fit both the single officer and multiple officer situations, we recommend that the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases propose to the supreme court the following revisions to the standard jury instruction:
21.1 RESISTING OFFICER WITH VIOLENCE
§ 843.01, Fla. Stat.
To prove the crime of Resisting Officer with Violence, the State must prove the following four elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
1. (Defendant) knowingly and willfully [resisted] [obstructed] [opposed] (victim) any officer by [offering to do [him][her] violence] [doing violence to.[him][he¥j] to any officer.
2. At the time, (victim) was the [officer tvas] [officers were] engaged in the [exec-ution-of-legal process] [lawful execution of a legal duty],
3. At the time, (victim) the [person] [persons] to whom (Defendant) [offered to do violence] [did violence] was [was an officer] [were officers ] [a-person-legally^authorized to execute, process],
4. At the time, (Defendant) knew (victim) the [person] [persons] to whom (Defendant) [offered to do violence] [did violence] was [was an officer] [were officers ] [a-person legally authorized to execute process].
The court now instructs you that every (name of official position of victim officer or officers designated in charge) is an officer within the meaning of this law.
“Offering” to do violence means threatening to do violence.
Although these proposed revisions obviously could not prevent the and/or issue from arising in this case, they may prevent the issue from arising in future cases.
Opinion of the Court
We affirm defendant’s conviction, writing to explain why the use of the locution and/or in both the charge and a jury instruction in this case does not constitute error.
Among other things, defendant was charged with at once resisting two police officers whose names were joined in the charge by the compound conjunctive/disjunctive and/or. At trial the State presented testimony that defendant fought both officers simultaneously as they attempted to detain him for questioning about a reported incident of domestic violence.
Testimony (obviously believed by the jmy) established these essential facts. As defendant bolted from the upstairs of the apartment building, one officer (POl) yelled for him stop. When he continued to flee, the officer told another officer (P02) to head him off at a stairway. At the bottom of that stairway, defendant crashed into P02 who managed to hold onto him. Defendant strained to break away and then, as the one officer testified, “the fight was on.” At that point POl joined the fray. During the course of the ensuing fight, defendant kicked P02 in the groin and bit him on the arm, while also using a police baton to hit POl. The baton caused a serious laceration on POl’s head, which bled “profusely” according to the testimony. Eventually the officers together brought defendant under control with handcuffs and placed him under arrest.
Defendant made no objection to the charge at any time before or during trial.
Before we look at these cases, a word about the semantics of and/or is indicated. The venerable British grammarian, Henry Fowler, had this to say about and/ or:
“The ugly device of writing x and/or y to save the trouble of writing x or y or both of them is common and convenient in some kinds of official, legal, and business documents, but should not be allowed outside of them.”
Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2d ed.) at 29.
Passing on then to the cases, Wallace holds that defendant’s continuous violent resistance of multiple officers constitutes only one instance of resisting.
Because and/or correctly expressed the meaning of the statute that defendant could be found guilty of resisting with violence if he resisted either officer or both at the same time, the same conjunctive/disjunctive may properly be used in the jury instructions to convey the applicable legal rule to the jury.
Affirmed.
. The Stale charged (1) resisting the two named officers with violence, (2) aggravated battery on one, and (3) depriving an officer of a means of protection or communication. The jmy found him guilty only of the first two charges.
. The juiy instruction read as follows:
"To prove the crime of Resisting an Officer with violence, the State must prove the following 3 elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
1 .[Defendant] knowingly and willfully resisted or obstructed or opposed [POl] and/or [P02] by doing violence to [POl] and/or [P02],
2. At the time [POl] and/or [P02] were engaged in the lawful execution of a legal duty. And
3. At the time [POl] and [P02] were Police Officer[s-? ].”
. See also Cochrane v. Florida East Coast Ry., 107 Fla. 431, 145 So. 217, 218-19 (1932) ("In the matter of the use of the alternative, conjunctive phrase 'and/or,' it is sufficient to say that we do not hold this to be reversible error, but we take our position with that distinguished company of lawyers who have condemned its use. It is one of those inexcusable barbarisms which was sired by indolence and dammed by indifference.... I am unable to divine how such senseless jargon becomes
. See Knight v. State, 819 So.2d 883 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (so explaining Wallace).
. We agree entirely with Judge Gerber’s concurring opinion and urge the adoption of the changes to the Standard Jury Instruction he has proposed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Matthew PROVOW, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published