Art CRAWFORD, Jr., Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Louis G. Carres, Asst. Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Joy B. Shearer and Eddie J. Bell, Assts. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
We have for review Crawford v. State,
May the harmless error doctrine be applied to cases in which a witness's testimony violated a defendant's right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment?
Id. at 701. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
We have answered the certified question affirmatively in State v. DiGuilio,
The [harmless error] test must be conscientiously applied and the reasoning of the court set forth for the guidance of all concerned and for the benefit of further appellate review. The test is not a sufficiency-of-the-evidence, a correct result, a not clearly wrong, a substantial evidence, a more probable than not, a clear and convincing, or even an overwhelming evidence test. Harmless error is not a device for the appellate court to substitute itself for the trier-of-fact by simply weighing the evidence. The focus is on the effect of the error on the trier-of-fact. The question is whether there is a reasonable possibility that the error affected the verdict. The burden to show the error was harmless must remain on the state. If the appellate court cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not affect the verdict, then the error is by definition harmful.
Id. at 1139.
It is so ordered.
*1143 McDONALD, C.J., and BOYD, OVERTON and SHAW, JJ., concur.
EHRLICH, and BARKETT, JJ., concur specially with opinions.
ADKINS, J., dissents.
EHRLICH, Justice, concurring specially.
I concur because this case is controlled by State v. DiGuilio,
BARKETT, Justice, concurring specially.
I concur because this case is controlled by State v. DiGuilio,
