Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

513 So. 2d 1321

513 So.2d 1321

12 Fla.L.Weekly 2338

Carvalho v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided September 29, 1987

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1987-09-29

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently March 1989

2 state decisions

Relies on Grant v. State · 438 So. 2d 787 - Harris v. State · 483 So. 2d 743 - Brown v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1987-09-29

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PER CURIAM.

¶1Defendant Reginaldo Carvalho appeals a conviction and sentence for trafficking in cocaine in excess of 400 grams, maintaining that the trial court erred in failing to give an instruction on simple possession of cocaine. We agree and reverse.

¶2Simple possession of cocaine is a category one necessarily included lesser offense of trafficking in cocaine; failure to give an instruction on the next immediate lesser included offense is per se reversible error. State v. Abreau, 363 So.2d 1063 (Fla.1978); Daophin v. State, 511 So.2d 1037 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987); Butler v. State, 497 So.2d 1327 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986); DiPaola v. State, 461 So.2d 284 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Smith v. State, 461 So.2d 1024 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985). Contra Brown v. State, 483 So.2d 743 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986). Although a defendant may waive his procedural right to have the jury instructed on necessarily included offenses, Carvalho’s stipulation that he possessed over 400 grams of cocaine was not the equivalent of a waiver. The supreme court has concluded that the defendant himself must expressly waive the right to these instructions, and that the record must reflect that the waiver was knowingly and intelligently made. Harris v. State, 438 So.2d 787 (Fla.1983).

¶3Reversed and remanded.

/513/so2d/1321 · .json · Public domain