Forehand v. State

In Forehand v. State, 126 Fla. 464, 171 So. 241 (1936), the supreme court reversed the defendant's conviction for first-degree murder upon finding insufficient evidence of premeditation and remanded for a new trial to determine whether the defendant's acts constituted murder in the second degree or manslaughter. Forehand, 171 So. at 244. In so holding, the supreme court recognized that premeditation is the essential element of first-degree murder but that premeditation may be negated by a finding of what is today referred to as "heat of passion:" It is also true that a well-defined purpose to kill may be induced, compelled, or constrained by anger of such degree as for the moment to cloud the reason and momentarily obscure what might otherwise be a deliberate purpose by its impelling influence . . . . As the element of premeditation is an essential ingredient of the crime of murder in the first degree, it is necessary that the fact of premeditation uninfluenced or uncontrolled by a dominating passion sufficient to obscure the reason based upon an adequate provocation must be established beyond a reasonable doubt before it can be said that the accused was guilty of murder in the first degree as defined by our statute. Forehand, 171 So. at 243.