Opinion ID: 2559519
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Burden of Proof Charge

Text: Appellant next claims counsel ineffectiveness with regard to the trial court's instruction on the burden of proof. Specifically, the trial court instructed the jury as follows: The question for you to decide, . . . is not which side produced the most evidence, but, instead, which evidence you believe. N.T. 2/1/1985 at 148. In this regard, Appellant argues that counsel was ineffective for not objecting to this instruction and not challenging this aspect of the jury charge on direct appeal for two reasons: (1) because the charge improperly imposed a burden on Appellant to produce evidence by implying that the prosecution must prevail unless Appellant produced some evidence for the jury to believe; and (2) because the charge relieved the Commonwealth of its burden to prove every element of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt by reducing the Commonwealth's burden to a preponderance of the evidence standard. [18] The Commonwealth argues that the charge as a whole did not dilute its burden of proof. The PCRA court found that the portion of the charge quoted above was part of the discussion about evaluating the credibility of witnesses. In another portion of the charge, the trial court instructed the jury that the Commonwealth had the burden of proving Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Examining the charge as a whole, the PCRA court rejected Appellant's claim. The Due Process Clause emphatically protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). It is well-established that the defendant has no duty to present evidence and may instead rely on the presumption of innocence and the Commonwealth's burden of proof. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Collins, 598 Pa. 397, 957 A.2d 237, 249 (2008); Commonwealth v. Pounds, 490 Pa. 621, 417 A.2d 597, 603 n. 17 (1980). Viewing the charge as a whole, as we must, see Commonwealth v. Smallwood, 497 Pa. 476, 442 A.2d 222, 227 (1982), it is notable that, during the final instructions to the jury, the trial court charged the jury as follows: It is notlet me say that againit is notN-O-T the defendant's burden to prove that he is innocent. Instead, it is the Commonwealth that always has the burden of proving each and every element of the crime charged and that the defendant is guilty of that crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Now, although in this case the defendant did present witnesses on his own behalf and he did take the stand in his own defense, a person accused of a crime is not required to present evidence or to prove anything in his own defense. If the Commonwealth's evidence fails to meet its burden, then your verdict must be not guilty. N.T. 2/1/1985 at 105-06. This charge properly instructed the jury that the Commonwealth was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the crimes charged. The single statement to which Appellant refers was made while the court was discussing the credibility of witnesses where their testimony conflicted. The trial court's instruction about witness credibility conformed to the standard jury instruction not to make a decision based on which side presented the greater number of witnesses or the greater amount of evidence. See Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instructions (Criminal) Section 7.04. We will not take the witness credibility portion of the charge and consider it to the exclusion of the proper reasonable doubt charge. Accordingly, this claim fails.