Have you just lost a West Palm Beach will contest after a jury trial? Are you considering appealing? Experienced probate litigators know that proper jury instructions are crucial to winning your case and that errors may be grounds for appeal. Are you sure the jury instructions were proper? You may want to check out a recent appeal from the Fourth District Court of Appeal in and for West Palm Beach, where the jury was instructed on a matter of law that did not even exist!
The Right to a Jury
- You may have a right to a jury trial in West Palm Beach if you want to contest a will.
- Do you know how to demand a jury trial?
- The personal representative or other interested parties opposing you may also have the right to demand a jury trial.
Jury Instructions
- When you have a jury trial the jury is instructed on the law before they go and deliberate.
- Your counsel and opposing counsel will meet and agree on what the jury instructions should say.
- The West Palm Beach probate judge is also going to have a say in the matter.
- Did you know that you can appeal the jury instructions?
- Look out for errors in law that the jury was told.
- How can a judgment be valid if the jury was depending on the wrong laws?
- Do you have grounds for an appeal from a West Palm Beach probate jury verdict after you lost a will contest?
- Check out this case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeals where a criminal case was appealed after faulty jury instructions.
- The same principle may apply to your probate appeal!
Rodriguez v. State of Florida
- The defendant here was a convicted felon who was found to possess a weapon which is a crime in and of itself.
- The man was convicted in a trial court for “Possession of a Weapon by a Felon” however that is not actually the crime in West Palm Beach.
- The State actually had to prove that he was a felon and had a concealed weapon.
- On appeal the State conceded that the error in the jury instructions meant that the verdict could not stand.
- Did faulty jury instructions produce a verdict in your West Palm Beach will contest?
- You may have grounds to file an appeal but you have to act quickly.
- Did you know you may have as little as thirty days to file your appeal?
Want to learn more about bad jury instructions in West Palm Beach?
Check out the entire case by clicking here.