Damien DAVIS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
*735 Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Nan Ellen Foley, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Charlie Crist, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Georgina Jimenez-Orosa, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
KLEIN, J.
Appellant argues that the trial court committed fundamental error in failing to give a guilty knowledge jury instruction under Chicone v. State,
Appellant was convicted of possession and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school based on the testimony of a confidential informant. The informant testified that, while he was driving, the appellant waved him over. The informant got out of his car and went onto appellant's porch, where appellant sold him cocaine.
Chicone requires that, where a defendant requests it, the jury must be instructed that the defendant have knowledge that the substance is illegal. In this case the instruction was not requested, but defendant argues that it was fundamental error not to give it.
Because guilty knowledge was not an issue in this case, in that the only position taken by the defendant was that he was not the person who sold the cocaine to the informant, any error in not giving a guilty knowledge instruction would not rise to the level of fundamental error. State v. Delva,
WARNER and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM.
Appellant has moved for rehearing asserting that the error in his case was fundamental based on Scott v. State,
We do not agree with appellant that there is a conflict between Scott and Delva because in Scott the error was preserved. Accordingly, the language in Scott relied on by appellant[1] is not relevant when analyzing whether an error is fundamental.
In order for a jury instruction which omits a crime element to be fundamental error under Delva, there must be an actual *736 dispute about that element raised by the evidence or argument. As the court noted in Delva, there was "no suggestion that Delva was arguing that while he knew of the existence of the package he did not know what it contained." Id. at 645. In a decision after Scott, Reed v. State,
In the same vein, appellant argues that our opinion in this case conflicts with Thompson v. State,
We therefore deny the motion for rehearing.
WARNER, KLEIN and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] That language is:
Scott's argument that he did not possess the drugs and had no knowledge of the drug's presence in his locker encompasses the argument that he was unaware of the illicit nature of the substance. With this kind of argument and defense, each element of the offense is a disputed element on which the jury must be instructed. Moreover, the requirement that an instruction must be given does not depend on the defense espoused. Because knowledge of the illicit nature is an element of the crime and the jury must be instructed on each element of the crime, an instruction must be given even when the defendant simply requires the State to prove its case and offers nothing by way of an affirmative defense.
Scott,
