Nelsenn Simon v. State, 162 So. 3d 216

Defendant Nelsenn Simon was convicted of second-degree murder and appealed, arguing the manslaughter jury instruction was fundamentally erroneous because it repeated the intent element of the greater offense.
At trial evidence included a witness who heard the victim tell Simon “Whenever you saw me, you would fight with me,” after which Simon stabbed the victim with a broken bottle; another witness testified Simon had said days earlier he planned to kill the victim.
The Fourth District initially affirmed Simon’s conviction relying on Singh v. State, which upheld a standard manslaughter instruction under similar circumstances.
While Simon’s petition was pending, the Florida Supreme Court decided Haygood v. State, which effectively overruled Singh by holding that a culpable-negligence manslaughter instruction cannot cure an erroneous manslaughter-by-act instruction when the evidence does not support culpable negligence.
The Florida Supreme Court accepted jurisdiction, quashed the Fourth District’s prior opinion, and remanded for reconsideration in light of Haygood.
On remand the Fourth District concluded the evidence did not reasonably support manslaughter by culpable negligence and held the manslaughter-by-act instruction was fundamental error, reversing and remanding for a new trial on second-degree murder.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the manslaughter instruction was fundamentally erroneous because it included the same intent element as the greater offense	State argued the standard instruction was proper and Singh controlled	Simon argued the instruction improperly duplicated intent and was fundamentally erroneous	Court held the instruction was fundamental error under Haygood and reversed for new trial
Whether a culpable-negligence manslaughter instruction cures an erroneous manslaughter-by-act instruction	State argued alternative culpable-negligence instruction could cure error	Simon argued evidence did not support culpable negligence so cure was unavailable	Court held cure was unavailable because evidence did not support culpable negligence

Haygood v. State, 109 So. 3d 735 (Fla. 2013) (holding a culpable-negligence manslaughter instruction cannot cure an erroneous manslaughter-by-act instruction when evidence does not support culpable negligence)
Singh v. State, 36 So. 3d 848 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (previous Fourth District decision upholding a standard manslaughter instruction; effectively overruled by Haygood)
Simon v. State, 38 So. 3d 793 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (initial Fourth District opinion affirming conviction, later quashed and remanded by the Florida Supreme Court)