Opinion ID: 1057682
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Acquittal-First Jury Instructions

Text: The Defendant argues that the trial court erred by employing acquittal-first jury instructions that forbid the jury from considering a lesser-included offense until it has reached a unanimous verdict of acquittal on any greater offenses. Specifically, the Defendant argues that the instructions are repugnant to the constitutional right to trial by jury, see Ely, 48 S.W.3d at 727, as well as illogical and unjustified by policy considerations. This Court recently held that acquittal-first instructions are permitted by the Tennessee Constitution. State v. Davis, 266 S.W.3d 896, 905 (Tenn.2008). Although we disagreed on the policy considerations raised to support an acquittal-first jury instruction as compared to the alternative reasonable efforts approach, compare Davis, 266 S.W.3d at 905-08 with id. at 910-16 (Wade, J., concurring), the acquittal-first instruction was confirmed as the prevailing practice.