Opinion ID: 1177897
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Instruction on Criminal Capacity.

Text: Jury Instruction Number 12 stated, You are instructed that a person with a mind capable of knowing right from wrong must be regarded as capable of entertaining intent and of deliberating and premeditating. (Emphasis added.) Appellant argues that this instruction created a presumption which had the effect of improperly shifting the burden of proof to the defense as to deliberation and premeditation, thereby being violative of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment as well as of NRS 47.230(2). We disagree. In Pinana v. State, 76 Nev. 274, 287, 352 P.2d 824, 831 (1960), we held that such language embodied in a jury instruction was a correct statement of the law. See also Criswell v. State, 84 Nev. 459, 443 P.2d 552 (1968). Here, appellant did not interpose the defense of insanity, but instead presented evidence of his asserted condition of depression immediately preceding the homicide. This court has rejected the doctrine of partial responsibility or diminished capacity. See Fox v. State, 73 Nev. 241, 244, 316 P.2d 924, 926 (1957). We are unpersuaded by appellant's argument and decline to depart from the right-and-wrong test which we have applied since State v. Lewis, 20 Nev. 333, 351, 22 P. 241, 247-48 (1889). The instruction in the instant case did not advise the jurors that if they found the defendant knew right from wrong, they must find he did entertain intent or did deliberate and premeditate. The instruction merely stated that the defendant was capable of such. See Geary v. State, 91 Nev. 784, 792-93, 544 P.2d 417, 423 (1975). Although we believe this instruction was not essential to the case, and, indeed, is undesirable in the context of this case, we disagree that the reading of this instruction constituted error. Finally, this instruction did not shift the burden to appellant as the jury was fully informed by court admonitions, instructions, and argument of counsel, that the state had the burden of proving every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See Pinana v. State, 76 Nev. at 287, 352 P.2d at 831; see also In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1072, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). The instruction reserved to the jury full discretion to determine whether appellant entertained the necessary intent, deliberation and premeditation. The challenged instruction does not improperly shift the burden of persuasion from the state to the defendant and did comport with due process, as well as state law. Cf. Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 703, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 1892, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975) (Maine murder statute unconstitutionally required defendant to rebut statutory presumption that he committed murder with malice aforethought by proving that he acted in the heat of passion on sudden provocation).