Opinion ID: 2537633
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant jury instruction D-22.

Text: ¶ 42. Fulgham requested that the trial court instruct the jury that: Each person testifying in this case is a witness. You, individually, must determine the believability of the witnesses. I instruct you that you may consider the following factors in weighing the testimony of a witness: 1. the intelligence of the witness; 2. the ability of the witness to observe and accurately remember; 3. the sincerity, or lack of sincerity, of a witness; 4. the demeanor of the witness; 5. the extent to which the testimony of the witness is supported or contradicted by other evidence; 6. whether discrepancies in testimony are the result of innocent mistake or deliberate falsehood; and 7. any other characteristics noted by you. I instruct you that you may reject or accept all or any part of the testimony of a witness; or you may reject parts, but accept other parts of the testimony of a witness. After making your own judgment, give the testimony of each witness the credibility, if any, you think it deserves. This instruction is taken almost verbatim from Chatman v. State . [44] In Chatman, this Court ruled that Mississippi law supports such an instruction, and that under certain circumstances the defendant may be entitled to [this] more specific instruction[.] [45] But we found that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in refusing to grant the instruction, since another instruction properly informed the jury of the things it should consider when weighing witness testimony. [46] ¶ 43. In this case, the jury was instructed by instruction C.01 that: It is your duty to determine the facts and to determine them from the evidence produced in open court. You are to apply the law to the facts and in this way decide the case. You should not be influenced by bias, sympathy, or prejudice. Your verdict should be based on the evidence and not upon speculation, guesswork, or conjecture. You are the sole judges of the facts in this case. Your exclusive province is to determine what weight and what credibility will be assigned the testimony and supporting evidence of each witness in this case. You are required and expected to use your good common sense and sound honest judgment in considering and weighing the testimony of each witness who has testified in this case. We find the jury was properly instructed under C.01 of the things it should consider when weighing witness testimony. [47] While a specific instruction may have been more helpful, we find that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in refusing instruction D-22, as the jury was adequately instructed on this issue when all instructions are viewed as a whole. And we cannot say that the instruction was of such importance that the court's failure to instruct the jury on that issue seriously impaired the defendant's ability to present his given defense. [48]