FL · jury_instructions
Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 3.3(h)
WILLFUL BLINDNESS
Do not give if there is no evidence supporting an inference of deliberate ignorance or if the evidence is consistent only with a theory of actual knowledge.
In some cases, the issue to be determined is whether the defendant had knowledge of a certain fact. Florida law recognizes a concept known as willful blindness, which is sometimes referred to as “deliberate avoidance of positive knowledge.” Willful blindness occurs when a person has his or her suspicion aroused about a particular fact, realized its probability, but deliberately refrained from obtaining confirmation because he or she wanted to remain in ignorance. A person who engages in willful blindness is deemed to have knowledge of that fact.
Provenance
- Source
- floridabar.org
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-18
- Edition
- 2026-08-18
- Content hash
7840b0ff391ae4bc7775bdb362b0a702a1d27691030f85b89be39ccdc8bdc8f3
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