Opinion ID: 1546590
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Comparison of the Jury Instruction with the Sufficiency Test

Text: Although there appears to be a possible disconnect between the jury instruction and the sufficiency test, Sutton does not question the instruction. And, although one would expect the jury instruction to track the sufficiency formula more completely than it does here, we cannot find a difference between instruction 4.51 and Winstead's sufficiency language that is significant enough to warrant a finding of material prejudice to Sutton. [18] For purposes of this appeal, the two formulations are close enough. Under both Head (instruction 4.51) and Dixon/Rouse (evidentiary sufficiency), the scope or range of property within one's immediate actual possession is effectively the same, namely, an area delimited by how far away one can be from the property and yet reasonably [19] be expected to exercise physical control over it. It would appear, in any event, that the words added to Winstead's sufficiency formula if not deterred by violence or fearwere not intended to limit or circumscribe the area in which the victim could reasonably be expected to exercise that physical control. Rather, deterrence of the victim by violence or fearthe reason why the victim stays in placewould seem to be no more than the explanation for why a victim cannot reasonably be expected to retain or reestablish literal, actual possession, and thus the reason why the elastic definition of immediate actual possession is appropriate. When, however, a juror looks carefully at instruction 4.51 limiting immediate actual possession to a vehicle located close enough that one could reasonably expect the complainant to exercise physical control over it, that juror may ask, Close enough to control for what purpose? Presumably the instruction would mean closer than, say, merely close enough to retrieve the car without delay after a party in the neighborhood. But, what else? Does the case law add clarification to the statutory meaning?