Roy Dean BRUCE, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Roy Dean Bruce, pro se.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Linda Harrison, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
Roy Dean Bruce was charged by information with burglary of a dwelling and grand theft from a dwelling. He was found guilty by a jury on both counts. On appeal, this court per curiam affirmed without opinion Bruce's conviction and sentence. Bruce v. State,
We write only to discuss Bruce's allegation that his appellate counsel should have raised an issue regarding the burglary jury instruction given at trial. The trial court read the following instruction for burglary of a dwelling:
The State must prove the following three elements beyond a reasonable doubt: One, Roy Dean Bruce entered or remained in a dwelling owned by or in the possession of G.L. Homes of Florida, Inc.
*687 Two, Roy Dean Bruce did not have the permission or consent of G.L. Homes of Florida, Inc., or anyone authorized to act for him, to enter or remain in the dwelling at the time.
Three, at the time of entering the dwelling, Roy Dean Bruce had a fully formed conscious intent to commit the offense of burglary in the dwelling.
(Emphasis added). The emphasized portion is at issue in this case.
To grant a petition for writ of habeas corpus alleging ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, ineffective assistance must first be found. See Thompson v. State,
Here, Bruce has established both prongs of this test in regard to appellate counsel's failure to raise an issue regarding the burglary instruction. The first prong has been established because this jury instruction constitutes fundamental error. As this court has stated, "failure to give a complete or accurate instruction constitutes fundamental error if it relates to an element of the charged offense." Dowling v. State,
Because the error in the present case was of the same circular nature, and therefore, also fundamental, we find that appellate counsel's performance was deficient, establishing the first prong of Strickland. See Gore v. State,
Bruce also satisfies the second prong of Strickland because the deficiency in his appellate counsel's performance undermines *688 our confidence in the outcome of the proceedings. "Where an instruction is confusing or misleading, prejudicial error occurs where the jury might reasonably have been misled." Giles v. State,
As such, we remand for a new trial because under the circumstances, if appellate counsel had brought this issue to our attention, we would have granted Bruce a new trial. See Johnson v. Wainwright,
Accordingly, the petition is granted and we remand for a new trial.
PETITION GRANTED.
GUNTHER, KLEIN and MAY, JJ., concur.
