Case ID: ind_264/html/0547-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Hunter, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Henry Thomas Buchanan v. State of Indiana.
    [No. 576S157.
    Filed June 1, 1976.]
    
      Harriette Bailey Conn [Mrs.], Public Defender of Indiana, Etigene C. Hollander, Deputy Public Defender, for appellant.
    
      Theodore L. Sendak, Attorney General, Wesley T. Wilson, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
   Concurring Opinion

Hunter, J.

I am in agreement with the majority that the decision by the Court of Appeals be affirmed. However, in my opinion this Court should unequivocally disapprove of the use of the instruction:

“In consideration of the rights of the defendant, do not forget that by each acquittal of a criminal, the safeguards erected by society for its protection are weakened.”

The Court of Appeals in the opinion by Judge Sullivan states in part:

“[W]e are unable to approve the particular instruction before us, in the light of the evidence in this case.”

This language modifies the disapproval of this instruction. I believe this Court should expressly and completely reject the use of this instruction in any case by the trial courts of Indiana.

Note. — Reported at 348 N.E.2d 394.