Whitfield v. State

In Whitfield v. State, 452 So. 2d 548 (Fla. 1984), the Court held that a jury instruction on the refusal to submit to fingerprinting as a circumstance from which consciousness of guilt could be inferred was an impermissible comment on the evidence. In Whitfield the Court indicated its concern about recognizing any exceptions to the Lester rule that a trial court may not comment on the evidence. Otherwise, the exceptions would swallow the rule.