Opinion ID: 359736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Charge Regarding Appellant's Failure to Testify.

Text: 24 The appellant claims he was prejudiced by the court's use of the word failure in the charge to the jury regarding the appellant's not having testified in his own behalf. 9 The court's charge, reviewed as a whole, See United States v. Garcia, 531 F.2d 1303, 1307 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 429 U.S. 941, 97 S.Ct. 359, 50 L.Ed.2d 311 (1976), does not reflect any prejudice to the appellant. The use of the word failure in such instructions appears in Devitt and Blackmar, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, § 17.14 (3rd ed., 1977), and was noted without adverse comment by this court in Locklear v. United States, 393 F.2d 729, 730 n.2 (5th Cir. 1968). 25