Opinion ID: 2532452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was the proffered duress instruction an improper statement of law because it included a manslaughter option?

Text: ¶ 19. The Court of Appeals held that the duress instruction was an improper statement of law because it included a manslaughter instruction, an option that, it reasoned, Banyard was not entitled to because Ballard was killed during a robbery. Mississippi Code Section 97-3-27 [18] is a manslaughter statute which specifically excepts the killing of an individual during a robbery from being manslaughter. But Banyard's theory throughout the entire case was that he had committed the robbery under duress. Duress is a valid defense for many crimes, including robbery. [19] Thus, if the jury found that Banyard was indeed acting under duress, he could not be found guilty of the robbery of Ballard, one of the essential elements of the capital-murder charge. Upon that finding, the jury then could proceed to consider whether he was proven guilty of any lesser offenses which the trial court had determined were supported by the record, whether they be murder, manslaughter, or both. ¶ 20. Thus, because we find that Banyard presented a sufficient evidentiary basis to support a duress instruction, the inclusion of a manslaughter instruction was not necessarily improper, as he would be entitled to instructions on lesser offenses should the jury find that he had committed the armed robbery under duress.
¶ 21. Although we find that the trial court's failure to grant Banyard's proffered duress instruction requires reversal, we briefly address Banyard's claim that the trial court unconstitutionally shifted the burden of proof when it instructed the jury that in order to find the defendant not guilty, it had to unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is not guilty. ... The relevant part of Jury Instruction 8, the form of the verdict instruction, stated: The Court further instructs the Jury that if you unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant is NOT GUILTY of either Capital Murder or Murder, then the verdict shall be in the following form, WRITTEN ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER: We the Jury [find] the Defendant NOT GUILTY of Capital Murder AND the jury finds the Defendant NOT GUILTY of Murder. ¶ 22. Obviously, this instruction was erroneous. It is axiomatic that the burden of proof never shifts to a defendant during a criminal trial, and there is no requirement that the defendant be found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. [20] As this Court stated in Pittman v. State : [T]he prosecution always has the burden of proving the guilt of [the] accused beyond a reasonable doubt, accused never has the burden of satisfying the jury of his innocence, or to disprove facts necessary to establish the offense charged. ... [21] ¶ 23. The State argues that the jury instructions, read as a whole, properly instructed the jury. Specifically, it argues that Jury Instruction 5, a general burden-of-proof instruction, [22] cured the defect in Jury Instruction 8. We disagree. We have said that the rule which requires that all instructions should be read together does not cure an erroneous instruction in conflict with a proper instruction on a vital issue where the proper instruction does not modify or clarify the erroneous instruction. [23] The giving of an erroneous instruction containing reversible error cannot be cured by the giving of an inconsistent and correct instruction. ... A material error in an instruction, complete in itself, is not cured by a correct statement of law in another instruction, for the jury cannot know which instruction is correct and the court cannot know which instruction influenced the jury. [24] ¶ 24. Thus, we find that the portion of Jury Instruction 8 which required the jury to unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is not guilty was improper and could not have been cured by other correct, yet conflicting, instructions, as we cannot know which instruction influenced the jury. [25]