Butler v. State

I thoroughly agree with the majority’s opinion that the instruction given by the lower court was irrelevant to any fact in issue, and that the giving of it, under the circumstances, was error. I strongly disagree, however, with the conclusion that, while error, it can be considered only harmless error. The Florida Supreme Court, in a number of recent opinions, State v. Marshall, 476 So.2d 150 (Fla.1985); State v. DiGuilio, 10 F.L.W. 430 (Fla. August 29, 1985); State v. Murray, 443 So.2d 955 (Fla.1984), has adopted the harmless error rule announced by the United States Supreme Court in Chapman…