Opinion ID: 1659535
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Requests For Jury Instructions

Text: The next issue for us to consider is whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury pursuant to the defendant's request for special instructions. The defendant contends that the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury in accordance with twelve special requests deprived him of his constitutional right to a fair trial. After reviewing the proposed instructions and the actual jury charge, we find no error in the trial court's refusal to give the proposed instructions. Some of the proposed instructions incorrectly state the law, while the other proposed instructions were adequately covered in the judge's actual charge to the jury. Accordingly, since [i]t is not error to refuse a special request where the charge as given fully and fairly states the applicable law, Edwards v. State, 540 S.W.2d 641, 649 (Tenn. 1976), we affirm the trial court on this issue.