Opinion ID: 1279824
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Intoxication Instruction and Verdicts.

Text: Testimony from various witnesses indicated that Terry Reynolds consumed approximately a 12-pack of beer and a half pint of whiskey during the quarters competition. Participants in the quarters game supplied varied testimony about Reynolds' intoxication, ranging from Grace Garner's testimony, I didn't figure he [Reynolds] was intoxicated, to Robert Garner's testimony that Reynolds was drunk. Heidi Cemer and Shannon Warburton testified that Reynolds' eyes were red and bloodshot when they saw Reynolds shortly before the Dodge fatality. A deputy sheriff testified that Reynolds, when he was arrested, was slurring his words and was unsteady on his feet. However, another deputy stated that he did not notice slurring in Reynolds' speech or any difficulty in Reynolds' walking. At the instruction conference, the court proposed to instruct the jury through INSTRUCTION NO. 16, which reflects NJI 14.31: Ordinarily, voluntary intoxication is no justification or excuse for crime; but excessive intoxication by which a person is wholly deprived of reason may prevent deliberation, premeditation or having the intent charged. If you find that the defendant was intoxicated, that fact should be considered by you, together with all the facts and circumstances in evidence, for the purpose of determining whether or not you have a reasonable doubt that the defendant was at the time in question capable of deliberation, premeditation, or having the intent charged. Defense counsel objected to the court's proposed instruction concerning intoxication and offered the following instruction: Evidence of consumption of alcohol by the defendant has been received. That evidence may be considered by you, along with all the other evidence, to determine if you have a reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant killed Craig Dodge purposefully and with premeditated and deliberate malice. After receipt of instructions which included instruction No. 16 set out above, the jury deliberated and returned a verdict of guilty on both charges against Reynolds.