Opinion ID: 1454512
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: ex parte jury instruction

Text: At the conclusion of the evidentiary portion of the trial, the court presented to counsel a copy of proposed jury instructions numbered 1 through 35. Verdict forms were not included with those instructions. At the jury instruction conference a question concerning a verdict form was raised and the court verbally stated to counsel that it would prepare a verdict form in essentially the following language: We find the defendant guilty of, then there will be first degree murder, then a check mark for guilty or not guilty, then if you find the defendant not guilty of first degree murder, you may consider the lesser included offense of second degree murder, ... When the case was finally submitted to the jury a verdict form in the format stated by the trial court and an additional instruction were submitted. The additional instruction, No. 36, stated in part: You will note on the Verdict form that you are first to consider the charge of First Degree Murder. If you find the defendant Guilty of First Degree Murder, you need proceed no further but the foreman shall sign the Verdict form and return it into open court. If you find the defendant Not Guilty of the charge of First Degree Murder, you shall consider the lesser included offense of Second Degree Murder. .... Counsel for the parties were not advised however, until after the verdict was received that Instruction No. 36 had been submitted to the jury. Enno first asserts that submission of the ex parte instruction is reversible error, and secondly, argues that the jury instruction was an incorrect statement of the law. Idaho Criminal Rule 30 clearly requires the trial court to read the instructions to the jury in open court. The failure to allow counsel a prior opportunity to review the instruction, make objections on the record, and to then read the instruction to the jury in open court was obviously error. However, in State v. Randolph, 102 Idaho 153, 627 P.2d 782 (1981), this Court held that an ex parte instruction that was a correct statement of the law was harmless error. Thus, the dispositive question on this issue is whether jury Instruction No. 36 was a correct statement of the law. Enno argues that the wording of Instruction No. 36 requires the jury to acquit him of first degree murder before it can consider second degree murder. Enno claims that an acquittal first instruction improperly invades the province of the jury. See Spierings v. Alaska, 479 U.S. 1021, 107 S.Ct. 679, 93 L.Ed.2d 729 (1986) (White, J. dissenting from denial of cert.). Enno cites State v. Charboneau, 116 Idaho 129, 774 P.2d 299 (1989), and argues that in Idaho an acquittal first instruction is not a correct statement of the law. [9] In United States v. Tsanas, 572 F.2d 340 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 995, 98 S.Ct. 1647, 56 L.Ed.2d 84 (1978), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that when a defendant reasonably requests a particular form of progressive instruction, failure to give the requested instruction was reversible error. In this case, however, Enno did not request any form of progressive instruction. Instruction No. 26 instructed the jury concerning the included offenses. Instruction No. 36, which was added after the instruction conference and submitted with the verdict form, was merely a directional instruction. It guided the jury in filling out the verdict form and did not specifically instruct on any issue of substantive law. Instruction No. 36 did not require the jury to acquit Enno of first degree murder before considering second degree murder, but merely instructed the jury that they were to first consider the charge of first degree murder. Instruction No. 36, when read in conjunction with Instruction No. 26, provided that if the jury was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Enno was guilty of murder in the first degree then they could consider murder in the second degree. Furthermore, Enno's counsel was informed at the instruction conference that this type of instruction would be given on the verdict form and no objection was made. Although technical error and not recommended procedure, placing this directional instruction in a separate instruction rather than including it with the verdict form was not prejudicial to Enno. Therefore, even though the trial court erred by not reading the instruction in open court or providing counsel with copies prior to the instruction conference, we fail to find prejudice and hold that the error was harmless.