STORAGE NAME: h0175b.JDC
DATE: 3/18/2025
1
FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BILL ANALYSIS
This bill analysis was prepared by nonpartisan committee staff and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
BILL #: HB 175
TITLE: Criminal Offenses Against Law Enforcement
Officers and Other Personnel
SPONSOR(S): Baker
COMPANION BILL: SB 234 (Leek)
LINKED BILLS: SB 2
RELATED BILLS: SB 2
Committee References
Criminal Justice
17 Y, 0 N
Judiciary
SUMMARY
Effect of the Bill:
The bill amends statutes related to resisting or committing violence against a law enforcement officer to require
that the officer be engaged in the performance of his or her official duties, rather than engaged in the lawful
performance or execution of a legal duty. The bill repeals a provision which specifies a law enforcement officer is
not justified in using force if an arrest or execution of a legal duty is unlawful and known by the officer to be
unlawful. Additionally, the bill adds manslaughter of a law enforcement officer to the list of offenses for which a
court must sentence a convicted defendant to life imprisonment without eligibility for release.
Fiscal or Economic Impact:
The bill may have a positive indeterminate impact on prison beds by enhancing the penalty for manslaughter of a
law enforcement officer to require a court to sentence a person convicted of such an offense to life imprisonment
without eligibility for release.
JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
ANALYSIS
EFFECT OF THE BILL:
The bill amends specified criminal statutes to revise the current requirement for a law enforcement officer or other
specified personnel to be engaged in the lawful performance or execution of a legal duty to instead require that a law
enforcement officer or other specified personnel be engaged in the performance of his or her official duties as
described in s. 943.10, F.S. Such criminal offenses include:
Murder of a law enforcement officer or other specified personnel.
Assault or battery of a law enforcement officer or other specified personnel.
Resisting a legally authorized person with violence. (Sections 3, 4, and 5)
Additionally, the bill amends requirements related to the justifiable use of force in resisting an arrest. Specifically,
the bill revises the current requirement for a law enforcement officer to be engaged in the execution of a legal duty
for the prohibition against using or threatening force against such an officer to apply, to instead require that a law
enforcement officer be engaged in the performance of his or her official duties as described in s. 943.10, F.S., for the
prohibition to apply. (Section 2)
The bill further removes any reference to an officer being engaged in the execution of a legal duty by repealing a
prohibition which specifies that a law enforcement officer, or any person whom the officer has summoned or
directed to assist him or her, is not justified in using force if the arrest or execution of a legal duty is unlawful and
known by him or her to be unlawful. (Section 2)
JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
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The bill also expands the list of offenses for which a court must sentence a defendant to life imprisonment without
eligibility for release, currently limited to the murder of a law enforcement officer, to also include manslaughter of
a law enforcement officer or other specified personnel. (Section 3)
The act is named the “Officer Jason Raynor Act.” (Section 1)
The effective date of the bill is October 1, 2025. (Section 6)
FISCAL OR ECONOMIC IMPACT:
STATE GOVERNMENT:
The bill may have a positive indeterminate impact on prison beds by enhancing the penalty for manslaughter of a
law enforcement officer to require a court to sentence a person convicted of such an offense to life imprisonment
without eligibility for release.
RELEVANT INFORMATION
SUBJECT OVERVIEW:
Duties of a Law Enforcement Officer
Section 943.10(1), F.S., defines a law enforcement officer (LEO) as:
Any person elected, appointed, or employed full time by any municipality or the state or any political
subdivision thereof;
Who is vested with authority to bear arms and make arrests; and
Whose primary responsibility is the prevention and detection of crime or the enforcement of Florida’s
penal, criminal, traffic, or highway laws.
1
Florida courts have held that an officer is engaged in the performance of his or her official duties when acting
within the scope of his or her employment.
2
Use of Force
Section 776.051, F.S., outlines limitations related to the lawful use of force and specifies that:
A person is not justified in using or threatening to use force to resist an arrest by a LEO, or to resist a LEO
who is engaged in the execution of a legal duty, if the LEO was acting in good faith and he or she is known, or
reasonably appears, to be a LEO.
3
A LEO, or any person whom the officer has summoned or directed to assist him or her, is not justified in
using force if the arrest or execution of a legal duty is unlawful and known by him or her to be unlawful.
4
The Florida Supreme Court has explained that, in arrest situations, Florida courts have consistently read s.
776.051(1), F.S., together with offenses described in s. 784.07(2), F.S. (assault or battery of a LEO), and s. 843.01,
F.S. (resisting a LEO with violence), and, in so doing, have not required the State to prove that an arrest was lawful
as a prerequisite to proving that a person was not justified in using force against a LEO.
5
1
The statutory definitions of “law enforcement officer” uniformly describe the “primary responsibility” of law enforcement
officers as “the prevention and detection of crime or the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of this state.” This
broad description of responsibilities or duties is not limited to execution of warrants, service of process, or actual arrests …
[and] the scope of an officer’s official duties is not coextensive with his power to arrest.” Finkelstein v. State, 157 So. 3d 1085,
1088 (Fla. 1
st
DCA 2015) (internal citations omitted).
2
See State v. A.R.R., 113 So. 3d 942, 944-45 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013) (citations omitted).
3
S. 776.051(1), F.S.
4
S. 776.051(2), F.S.
5
Tillman v. State, 934 So. 2d 1263, 1270 n. 4 (Fla. 2006) (superseded by statute on other grounds). The Legislature amended s.
776.051, F.S., after Tillman to make the prohibition against using force to resist a LEO apply to both arrest and nonarrest
situations. Ch. 2008-67, Laws of Fla.
JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
3
Under current law, a person may lawfully resist an illegal arrest by a LEO without using force or violence, but may
not resist, even an illegal arrest, by using force or violence.
6
Self Defense
Section 776.012, F.S., outlines when a person is justified in using or threatening to use force in defense of self or
others. In relevant part, a person may lawfully use force or violence to resist a LEO’s excessive force.
7 Accordingly,
Florida’s Standard Criminal Jury Instructions for the justifiable use of deadly and non-deadly force provide:
A person is not justified in using force or threatening to use force to resist an arrest by a LEO, or to resist a
LEO who is engaged in the execution of a legal duty, if the LEO is acting in good faith and he or she is known,
or reasonably appears, to be a LEO.
However, if an officer uses excessive force to make an arrest, then a person is justified in the use or
threatened use of reasonable force to defend himself, herself, or another, but only to the extent he or she
reasonably believes such force or threat of force is necessary.
8
Resisting a LEO with Violence
Under s. 843.01, F.S., a person commits a third degree felony
9 if he or she willfully resists, obstructs, or opposes an
officer or other specified personnel in the execution of legal process or in the lawful execution of any legal duty, by
offering or doing violence to such person.
Florida’s Standard Criminal Jury Instructions for resisting a LEO with violence
10 require a jury to find that an
officer was engaged in the lawful execution of a legal duty or the execution of legal process, but clarify that:
When a defendant claims the officer acted unlawfully, the court must provide a special instruction
incorporating s. 776.051(1), F.S.
When a defendant claims the LEO used excessive force, the court must provide a special instruction
incorporating instructions 3.6(f), relating to the justifiable use or threatened use of deadly force, or 3.6(g),
relating to the justifiable use or threatened use of non-deadly force.
In sum, if a LEO’s conduct is technically unlawful,
11 then a person may not resist that LEO with force, but if a LEO
uses excessive force, then a person may be justified in resisting that LEO with force.
Assault or Battery of a LEO
Section 784.07, F.S., reclassifies
12 the offenses of assault or battery to the next highest penalty when such an
offense is committed on a LEO or other specified personnel if he or she was engaged in the lawful performance of
his or her duties.
13
For purposes of determining whether a person commits assault or battery:
An “assault” is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another,
coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such
other person that such violence is imminent, punishable as a second degree misdemeanor.
14
6
See also K.Y.E. v. State, 557 So. 2d 956, 957 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (citations omitted).
7
Jackson v. State, 463 So. 2d 372, 374 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985).
8
Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 3.6(f) and 3.6(g) (Crim).
9
A third degree felony is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Ss. 775.082, F.S., 775.083, F.S., or 775.084,
F.S.
10
Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 21.1 (Crim).
11
Examples of technically unlawful or technically illegal conduct may include an arrest that a court later determines lacked
probable cause, or a search that a court later determines lacked a sufficient warrant.
12
Reclassification under s. 784.07, F.S., occurs as follows: a) in the case of assault, from a misdemeanor of the second degree to
a misdemeanor of the first degree; b) in the case of battery, from a misdemeanor of the first degree to a felony of the third
degree; c) in the case of aggravated assault, from a felony of the third degree to a felony of the second degree, and any person
convicted of aggravated assault upon a LEO shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of three years; and d) in
the case of aggravated battery, from a felony of the second degree to a felony of the first degree, and any person convicted of
aggravated battery of a LEO shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of five years.
13
Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 8.10, 8.11, 8.12, and 8.13 (Crim).
14
S. 784.011, F.S. A second degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to six months in county jail and a $500 fine. ss. 775.082
and 775.083, F.S. JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
4
A person commits a “battery” if he or she actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person
against the will of the other, or intentionally causes bodily harm to another person, generally punishable as
a first degree misdemeanor.
15
Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer or Other Specified Personnel
Under s. 782.065, F.S., a court must sentence a defendant to life imprisonment without eligibility for release if the
victim was a LEO, part-time LEO, auxiliary LEO, correctional officer (CO), part-time CO, auxiliary CO, correctional
probation officer (CPO), part-time CPO, or auxiliary CPO who was engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty,
and the defendant committed:
First degree murder and a death sentence was not imposed;
Second or third degree murder;
Attempted first or second degree murder; or
Attempted felony murder.
The trial judge must add the following elements to jury instructions for the above murder offenses:
The victim was a specified officer;
The defendant knew that the victim was a specified officer; and
The victim was engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty.
16
Manslaughter
Under s. 782.07, F.S., manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable
negligence
17 of another, without lawful justification. Generally, manslaughter is punishable as a second degree
felony.
18
However, under s. 782.07(4), F.S., manslaughter may be enhanced to a first degree felony
19 if a person causes the
death, through culpable negligence, of a LEO or other specified personnel who is performing duties that are within
the course of his or her employment.
Manslaughter of a LEO is not an offense for which a court must sentence a convicted defendant to life
imprisonment without eligibility for release.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Convicted Killer Sentenced to 30 Years for Manslaughter of Police Officer | Daytona Beach News-Journal
15
S. 784.03, F.S. A first degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in county jail and a $1,000 fine. ss. 775.082 and
775.083, F.S.
16
See Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 7.2 (first degree murder), 7.3 (first degree felony murder), 7.4 (second degree murder), 7.5 (second
degree felony murder), and 7.6 (third degree felony murder) (Crim). See also Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 7.13 (Crim), which clarifies
that reclassification under s. 782.065, F.S., does not apply to manslaughter.
17
“Culpable negligence” is more than a failure to use ordinary care toward others. In order for negligence to be culpable, it
must be gross and flagrant. Culpable negligence is a course of conduct showing reckless disregard of human life, or of the
safety of persons exposed to its dangerous effects, or such an entire want of care as to raise a presumption of a conscious
indifference to consequences, or which shows wantonness or recklessness, or a grossly careless disregard for the safety and
welfare of the public, or such an indifference to the rights of others as is equivalent to an intentional violation of such rights.
The negligent act or omission must have been committed with an utter disregard for the safety of others. Culpable negligence
is consciously doing an act or following a course of conduct that the defendant must have known, or reasonably should have
known, was likely to cause death or great bodily injury. Fla. Std. Jury Instr. 7.7(a) (Crim).
18
A second degree felony is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Ss. 775.082, F.S., 775.083, F.S., or
775.084, F.S.
19
A first degree felony is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Ss. 775.082, F.S., 775.083, F.S., or 775.084,
F.S. JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
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BILL HISTORY
COMMITTEE REFERENCE ACTION DATE
STAFF
DIRECTOR/
POLICY CHIEF
ANALYSIS
PREPARED BY
Criminal Justice Subcommittee 17 Y, 0 N 3/6/2025 Hall Butcher
Judiciary Committee Kramer Butcher