Opinion ID: 2611456
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The district court correctly denied Bush's request for a Holder instruction.

Text: Bush argues that the district court erred by refusing to give Defendant's Requested Instruction No. 14, a  Holder  instruction, with respect to J.S.'s identification of Bush. The requested instruction provided: You cannot find the defendant guilty of the crimes charged unless the circumstances proved by the evidence are consistent with the theory that the defendant is guilty of those crimes and they cannot be reconciled with any rational theory of the defendant's innocence. If the evidence is susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, one of which points to the defendant's guilt and the other to the defendant's innocence, it is your duty to adopt that interpretation which points to the defendant's innocence, and to reject the other which points to the defendant's guilt. In addition, each fact which is essential to complete a set of circumstances necessary to establish the defendant's guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In Holder, this Court held that such an instruction should not have been refused since, in that case, the evidence presented by the State was entirely circumstantial. 100 Idaho at 132-33, 594 P.2d at 642-43. In the present case, Bush claims that the evidence of identity is entirely circumstantial because the State's alleged direct evidence of identification is so weak as to be negligible. This argument is wholly without merit. J.S. testified at both the preliminary hearing and at trial that he had at least two opportunities to observe Bush's face. Both J.S. and B.S. identified Bush as the person who had previously rented their house. Further, at the jury instruction conference, Bush's attorney even admitted that this case does have eyewitness identification and, therefore, is not entirely circumstantial. . . . Thus, because the State's case involved direct evidence, and was not entirely circumstantial, we affirm the district court refusal to give the Holder instruction.