Opinion ID: 1190835
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Jury Instructions on Circumstantial Evidence

Text: Pacheco claims the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on the use of circumstantial evidence because the evidence of Pacheco's involvement in the fire was purely circumstantial. Pacheco concedes that the requirement that the jury be instructed on circumstantial evidence where it is the only evidence presented, was established in the context of a criminal prosecution (see State v. Holder, 100 Idaho 129, 132-33, 594 P.2d 639, 642-43 (1979), and is limited to criminal cases. He attempts to overcome this obstacle by arguing that while this is a civil case, he was charged with criminal activity and so the doctrine set forth in Holder should apply. Pacheco's attempt to bootstrap the rules of criminal law to this case is unpersuasive. Mere references to a collateral criminal investigation do not magically change this civil action into a criminal prosecution. Further, contrary to Pacheco's claim, there was, in fact, an instruction on circumstantial evidence. In Instruction No. 7 the court provided the standard IDJI instruction with regard to explaining the differences between direct and circumstantial evidence. Since this was not a criminal case and since the criminal rules do not apply in civil cases, the court correctly followed the civil jury instruction provided in IDJI.