Opinion ID: 2215612
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Specific-Intent Instruction

Text: The second issue presented in the defendant's appeal is his assertion that Final Instruction 18 [3] impermissibly relieved the State of its burden of proof on the issue of specific intent. The State responds that, because the ground on which the defendant objected to this instruction at trial was different than that now advanced on appeal, the allegation of error has been waived. It further responds that the instruction is substantially similar to some that have been likewise challenged in and upheld by Indiana appellate courts. See Henderson v. State, 544 N.E.2d 507, 509 (Ind.1989); Blackburn v. State, 519 N.E.2d 554, 557 (Ind.1988); Warner v. State, 577 N.E.2d 267, 271 (Ind.Ct. App.1991); Beecher v. State, 567 N.E.2d 861, 864 (Ind.Ct.App.1991). At trial, the defendant objected to the giving of Instruction 18 not on the ground that he raises here but on the ground that it was covered by other instructions. Record at 240-41. Indiana Criminal Rule 8(b) provides that a party must state his specific objections to the trial court's instructions before the commencement of argument and that no claim of error is available on appeal except upon the specific objections properly made at trial. However, such procedural default will not preclude appellate review of issues of fundamental error. Townsend v. State, 632 N.E.2d 727 (Ind.1994). Because the defendant here claims that Instruction 18 was impermissible under Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979), and its progeny, and because a Sandstrom violation is considered fundamental error, see Walker v. State, 632 N.E.2d 723, 724 (Ind.1994); Reid v. State, 529 N.E.2d 1309, 1309 (Ind.1988), procedural default will be precluded if such an error is found. A jury instruction will be found to violate the Fourteenth Amendment where it is reasonably likely that the jury interpreted the instruction as shifting to the defendant a burden of persuasion on the intent element. See Estelle, 502 U.S. 62 at 72-73, 112 S.Ct. 475 at 482, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 at 399 n. 4; Sandstrom, 442 U.S. at 523-24, 99 S.Ct. at 2458-59, 61 L.Ed.2d at 50-51. However, in Henderson, 544 N.E.2d at 509, and Jacks, 394 N.E.2d at 175, [4] this Court rejected claims of Sandstrom violations regarding instructions that were substantially similar to Instruction 18 in the present case. See also Blackburn, 519 N.E.2d at 557. Following Sandstrom, the Supreme Court in Francis v. Franklin, 471 U.S. 307, 105 S.Ct. 1965, 85 L.Ed.2d 344 (1985), held that a reviewing court: must determine whether the challenged portion of the instruction creates a mandatory presumption, or merely a permissive inference. A mandatory presumption instructs the jury that it must infer the presumed facts if the State proves certain predicate facts. A permissive inference suggests to the jury a possible conclusion to be drawn if the State proves predicate facts, but does not require the jury to draw that conclusion. Mandatory presumptions . . . violate the Due Process Clause if they relieve the State of the burden of persuasion on an element of an offense. A permissive inference does not relieve the State of its burden of persuasion because it still requires the State to convince the jury that the suggested conclusion should be inferred based on the predicate facts proved. . . . A permissive inference violates the Due Process Clause only if the suggested conclusion is not one that reason and common sense justify in light of the proven facts before the jury. Francis, 471 U.S. at 314-315, 105 S.Ct. at 1971, 85 L.Ed.2d at 353-54 (citations omitted) (footnote omitted). Furthermore, the Francis court explained, if the challenged portion of the instruction does not appear to pass constitutional muster, it must be considered in the context of the charge as a whole, because it may be explained by other instructions sufficiently to avoid the creation of an unconstitutional presumption. Id. at 315, 105 S.Ct. at 1971, 85 L.Ed.2d at 354. The instructions disapproved in Francis told jurors that `acts of a person of sound mind and discretion are presumed to be the product of the person's will' and that a person `is presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of his acts,' thereby mandating that the jurors make particular presumptions. Id. at 316, 105 S.Ct. at 1972, 85 L.Ed.2d at 354. In contrast, Instruction 18 talks in terms of what the jury  may look to,  may infer, and may consider in order to arrive at a determination of the defendant's intent. Record at 54 (emphases added). These phrases describe permissive inferences, not mandatory presumptions. Moreover, we note that the permissive term may is used here three times. Overall, Instruction 18 did not mandate that the jury employ any particular presumptions but merely permitted it to draw appropriate inferences from the evidence. Considering the instruction as a whole, we conclude that there is no reasonable likelihood that the jury interpreted Instruction 18 as shifting to the defendant a burden of persuasion on the intent element of the charged offense. We find no error as to this issue.