Opinion ID: 1088560
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: the court erred in denying appellant's instruction d-9.

Text: Appellant contends that it was error to refuse instruction D-9 which contains language as to the state's burden of proof in a circumstantial evidence case. The trial judge refused the instruction, saying it was contained in jury instruction S-1. A circumstantial evidence instruction is available when the state's case is based wholly upon circumstantial evidence and the state is required to prove the appellant guilty not only beyond a reasonable doubt but also to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence. Flemmons v. State, 419 So.2d 1034, 1036 (Miss. 1982); and Whitlock v. State, 419 So.2d 200, 204 (Miss. 1982). The state's case here is not wholly circumstantial; it was based on both direct and circumstantial evidence. Moreover, in part the case was based on appellant's own statements that the devil killed these people and committed the robbery while the appellant stood behind him. It was a reasonable inference that the devil did not do these acts but that the appellant did. Flemmons v. State, supra, at 1034. There is an even more compelling reason not to place the trial court in error on instruction D-9. In the instruction offered and refused, the language used by the appellant was to a moral certainty. That is not the burden of proof in a circumstantial evidence case. Whitlock v. State, supra . Appellant failed to request proper circumstantial evidence instructions. Having failed to request them, he cannot now place the trial judge in error on this issue. Samuels v. State, 371 So.2d 394 (Miss. 1979). Assignment number 10 is without merit.