Opinion ID: 299374
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: refused instructions

Text: 44 Tocco offered proposed instruction 19 which reads as follows: 45 In a criminal case, a defendant cannot be compelled to take the stand and testify. Whether he testifies or does not testify is a matter of his own choosing. However, when a defendant elects to take the stand and testify, then he is a competent witness and you have no right to disregard his testimony merely because he is accused of a crime. When he does testify, he at once becomes the same as any other witness and his credibility is to be tested by and subjected to the same tests as are legally applied to any other witness. You have no right to disregard his testimony simply because he is a defendant. 46 The trial court refused to give the instruction as it was written or without the last sentence thereof as suggested by counsel for Tocco. Tocco now claims that it was error to fail to give this instruction under Taylor v. United States, 390 F.2d 278, 284-285 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 869, 89 S.Ct. 155, 21 L.Ed.2d 137 (1968). In Taylor, the Court approved an instruction similar to the one requested, but much less favorable to the defendant than the one proposed by Tocco. 3 47 The Court, in approving the instruction in Taylor, made the following observation: 48 We do not hesitate to observe, however, that the continuing and frequent attack on an instruction of this kind indicates that its use leaves defense counsel with a troubled mind. We suspect that this discomfort would be alleviated if the defendant were included by reference in the court's general instructions as to all witnesses. We would prefer that the defendant not be be singled out. His interest is obvious to the jury. A general reference, such as `including the defendant', should suffice. Or the simple instruction proposed by Mathes & Devitt, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions § 9.12 (1965), namely, `A defendant who wishes to testify, however, is a competent witness; and the defendant's testimony is to be judged in the same way as that of any other witness', might be considered for use and should withstand attack of the kind present here. Id. at 285. (Emphasis added.) 49 In this case, the trial court gave the following instruction concerning credibility of witnesses: 50 You are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight and value to be given to their testimony as well as all the evidence and facts and circumstances detailed before you and which have been presented in this trial. In weighing and reconciling the testimony, you should look to the demeanor and manner of the witness testifying, his or her willingness or unwillingness to answer; to the lack of interest, or interest, of any witness in the case; to the relationship of the parties; to the means of knowledge, or lack of knowledge of the facts about which such witness testifies; to the opportunity of the witness to know the facts about which he or she purports to testify; to the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the witness's testimony; to its probability or improbability, and whether the witness has made contradictory statements or not, about material matters involved in this case, and thus having carefully considered all the matters, you must fix the weight and value of the testimony of each and every witness and of the evidence as a whole. 51 The instruction given is in conformity to this Court's admonition in Taylor that [w]e would prefer that the defendant not be singled out, and failure to give the instruction requested by Tocco was not error. 52 Each defendant also complains that its suggested position instruction was not given. The court gave a short and concise statement of the position of each defendant which informed the jury of each defendant's version of the case, and although not as detailed as those requested, they were entirely adequate. As stated in Raftis v. United States, 364 F.2d 948, 956 (8th Cir. 1966), [i]t is not necessary that a position instruction closely approximate a defendant's closing argument.