Opinion ID: 1964385
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Argument and Instructions

Text: [10, 11] Defendant Laaman complains that the prosecutor's closing argument regarding Laaman's knowledge of the game plan was so devoid of evidentiary support that it was unduly prejudicial. However, a reading of the record discloses that no objection was made by counsel for Laaman to this nor to any other part of the prosecutor's argument. It is the policy of this state to require timely objections so that corrective measures may be taken during trial. See State v. Lemire, 115 N.H. 526, 534, 345 A.2d 906, 912 (1975); State v. Breest, 115 N.H. 504, 505-06, 345 A.2d 391, 392 (1975). As no objection was raised and reserved below this issue is waived. Id.; State v. Lemire, 115 N.H. at 534, 345 A.2d at 912. Furthermore, the court cautioned the jury that they were to take their own recollection of the evidence and that the arguments were not statements of fact. [12] Defendant Laaman claims that the court erred in instructing the jury regarding the criminal liability of an accomplice, and defendant Dunn claims that the court erred in instructing the jury on the elements of the offense of riot. We note that Dunn proposed no instruction on riot so that the court could have charged something more favorable to him. Here again, neither defendant objected to the instructions either during the charge or immediately thereafter. Not having raised and preserved these objections below defendants cannot raise them here for the first time. State v. Taschler, 116 N.H. 218, 221, 356 A.2d 697, 699 (1976). Defendants Dunn and Laaman argue that the court's instruction on reasonable doubt was plain error and denied defendants a fair trial. Defendants object to that portion of the court's instruction which states, It does not mean a trivial or a frivolous or a principal doubt nor one which can be readily or easily explained away but rather such a strong and abiding conviction as still remains after careful consideration of all the facts and arguments against it. . . . They rely on United States v. Flannery, 451 F.2d 880 (1971), where the court there criticized a similar charge. [13] The very argument made by defendants was rejected by this court in State v. Black, 116 N.H. 836, 368 A.2d 1177 (1976). A single instruction to a jury may not be judged in artificial isolation, but must be viewed in the context of the overall charge. Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 146-47 (1973). The court here gave a page and a quarter of instructions on reasonable doubt using a variety of descriptions which taken in their totality clearly conveyed the correct concept of reasonable doubt. State v. Black, 116 N.H. 836, 368 A.2d 1177 (1976); State v. Slade, 116 N.H. 436, 362 A.2d 194 (1976); State v. Booton, 114 N.H. 750, 329 A.2d 376 (1974).