Opinion ID: 1762142
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Overlap of Instructions

Text: Next, Appellant argues that the jury's verdict is based on speculation and conjecture because the jury did not understand the differences in the instructions between capital murder and first-degree murder. The State correctly asserts that this court has repeatedly rejected arguments regarding the overlap between the capital murder and first-degree murder statutes. In Porter v. State, 358 Ark. 403, 191 S.W.3d 531 (2004), this court addressed an argument similar to Appellant's and pointed out that such an argument harkens back to the argument that the statutes defining the offenses of capital murder and first-degree murder are unconstitutionally vague, an argument which has been rejected time and again by this court. See also Williams v. State, 346 Ark. 54, 56 S.W.3d 360 (2001); White v. State, 298 Ark. 55, 764 S.W.2d 613 (1989); Cromwell v. State, 269 Ark. 104, 598 S.W.2d 733 (1980). In those cases, we found no constitutional infirmity in the overlapping of the two statutes, because there is no impermissible uncertainty in the definitions of the offenses. Id. In so holding, the court explained that it is impossible to avoid the use of general language in the definition of certain offenses. Id. In this case, Appellant acknowledges our long line of cases holding that there is no impermissible overlap between the two statutes, but argues that the jury in this case suffered from an impermissible uncertainty, as evidenced by the note they sent to the trial court stating that they could not discern a difference between capital murder and first-degree murder. This uncertainty, according to Appellant, means that the jury's verdict was the result of speculation. As this court recognized in Porter, there is a presumption that the model instruction is a correct statement of the law, and Appellant has cited no authority in support of his position sufficient to overcome this presumption. See also McCoy v. State, 348 Ark. 239, 74 S.W.3d 599 (2002). In the absence of any convincing argument to the contrary, we adhere to our previous decisions that there is no unconstitutional overlap between the capital murder and first-degree-murder statutes. Accordingly, Appellant's argument on this point is without merit.