Court Opinion

ID: 9551828
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:00:00.537405+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:24:47.893120
License: Public Domain

ERWIN, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds the failure to give a cautionary instruction as to appellant’s alleged out-of-court admissions plain error.
This court will ordinarily consider on criminal appeal only those issues which were properly presented below. An exception is made, however, for what are characterized as “plain errors” in order to lessen the harshness of an adversary system in which an accused is bound by the actions (or inactions) of his counsel where justice demands. However, the exception must not be allowed to become the rule. In a judicial system of limited resources, *128the necessary principle of finality is inconsistent with a demand for perfect trial (or even a demand that any errors be “harmless”).1 Furthermore, to notice on appeal every non-objected-to, potentially harmful error, whether the failure to object was due to strategy, ignorance or oversight, would place a premium on incompetence. The temptation to ignore error at trial in order to have a means of obtaining a new trial in case of an adverse judgment would be real.
In an attempt to strike a balance between the demands for justice of the accused and the public, courts have struggled to define the kind of error first noticed on appeal for which they will reverse. At least one commentator has questioned the usefulness of these attempts at definition:
Courts have endeavored to put a gloss on the [plain error rule]' by defining the kind of error for which they can reverse * * *. Thus it is said that ‘plain error’ means ‘error both obvious and substantial,’ or ‘seriously prejudicial error,’ or ‘grave errors which seriously affect substantial rights of the accused.’ Perhaps these attempts to define ‘plain error’ do not harm, but it is doubtful whether they are of much help. The sounder perception is that when an appellate court should take notice of an error not raised below must be made on the facts of the particular case, and there are no ‘hard and fast classifications in either the application of the principle or the use of a descriptive title.’ Indeed the cases give the distinct impression that ‘plain error’ is a concept appellate courts find impossible to define, save that they know it when they see it.
3 Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure § 856 at 372-73 (1969) (footnotes omitted).2
A fruitful field for plain error, and the one involved here, is the instructions. It is almost always possible to frame a more accurate instruction than the one actually given, or to assert that certain instructions neither requested nor given were essential to the jury’s proper deliberation. The specific obstacle to this kind of postmortem is Criminal Rule 30(a) which provides in part that:
No party may assign as error any portion of the charge or omission therefrom *129unless he objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection.
The conflict between Criminal Rules 30(b) and 47(b) is obvious. On first impression the cases indicate little more than an ad hoc approach in the resolution of this conflict. However, a closer examination suggests a method of analysis based on the recognition that there are two kinds of charges: (1) those basic to every criminal trial, namely, the elements of the crime charged and the concepts involved in due process, such as burden of proof and the presumption of innocence; and (2) those concerning the evidence adduced and the procedures followed in the particular trial. The former instructions are fundamental, basic charges, the omission of which is plain error absent an intelligent waiver.3 In the latter, however, we deal with trial counsel’s conduct of the case, the elements or evidence he wishes to stress and those he wishes to subordinate; fundamental fairness is ordinarily not involved. Before an error as to this type of instruction can be found to be “plain”, the court should be strongly convinced that prejudice clearly appears.
Because the cautionary instruction involved herein falls within the latter category, and because I perceive no clear indication of prejudice, I must reluctantly disagree with my colleagues as to the application of the plain error rule in this case.
Instruction 224 cautioned the jury concerning problems of defense in statutory rapé cases. Instruction 24 5 noted that the appellant had presented evidence of good character. The jury was further instructed that they were to carefully weigh all testimony according to the demeanor, motive, intelligence and candor of the witnesses.6 Finally, both the district attorney and de*130fense counsel in closing argument stressed that the question of credibility of the various witnesses was the primary issue in the case,7 and that the defendant should be acquitted if the jury did not believe Bessie Wilson.
I am simply unable to agree that in the context of the instructions and the closing argument in this case that the failure by the court to give the cautionary instruction constituted such prejudice to the appellant as to call for the intervention of this court without objection below.

. This problem has assumed increased importance with the increasing complexity of the law of criminal procedure and the expanded and institutionalized guarantee of counsel. After a verdict of guilty has been returned, counsel, often newly-retained, comb the record at leisure for “error”. It is hard to imagine that with a trial of any length such a search would be fruitless.

. This court has utilized the “obviously prejudicial” standard [Bowker v. State, 373 P.2d 500, 505 (Alaska 1962); Kugzruk v. State, 436 P.2d 962, 964 (Alaska 1968)], the “manifest miscarriage of justice” standard [Rank v. State, 373 P.2d 734, 736 (Alaska 1962); Dimmick v. State, 449 P.2d 774, 776 (Alaska 1969); Shafer v. State, 456 P.2d 466, 467 (Alaska 1969)], the “obvious and substantial error” definition [Dimmick v. State, 449 P.2d 774, 776 (Alaska 1969)], and the “deprivation of a substantial right” test [Thomas v. State, 391 P.2d 18, 20 (Alaska 1964); Noffke v. State, 422 P.2d 102, 106 (Alaska 1967); Goresen v. State, 432 P.2d 326 (Alaska 1967)].
The language used by this court in Love v. State, 457 P.2d 622, 629 (Alaska 1969) lamenting the reliance upon mechanistic formulae in dealing with questions of “harmless error” applies with equal force in dealing with that doctrine’s conterpart, “plain error”:
A formal statement of legal rules is of little value unless we know the methods by which those rules operate in practice. What matters pragmatically is only the portion of the formal rule that survives after the judicial apparatus has done its work.
The application of the harmless error rule [or the plain error rule] in a given case is a broad act of judgment, with all that the term implies. It is not easy to express in mechanistic verbal formulae a rule comprehending the many factors which motivate that act of judgment. The interplay of impression and analysis, the experience and legal philosophy of the judge, the necessity to balance between competing interests, and a detailed consideration of the actualities in each case, all contribute inevitably to the result.

. Drahosh v. State, 442 P.2d 44, 49 (Alaska 1968) (duplicity of charge); Noffke v. State, 422 P.2d 102, 106-107 (Alaska 1967) (supplemental instruction on elements of offense).

. Instruction 22 reads as follows :
It is not essential to a conviction that the testimony of the minor child who is prosecuting witness be corroborated by other evidence, provided that from all the evidence you are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt. However, a charge of statutory rape such as made against the defendant in this case, is one which generally speaking, is easily made, and, once made, difficult to disprove, even if the defendant is innocent. Therefore, I charge you that the law requires that you examine the testimony of the minor child with caution.
In giving this instruction, I do not mean to imply an opinion of my own as to the credibility of any witness.
The fact that the charge here is one difficult to disprove should not deter you from rendering a verdict of guilty if j'ou are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty as charged.

. Instruction 24 reads as follows:
Defendant has introduced evidence of his good reputation in his community prior to the Indictment in this case. Such evidence may indicate to the jury that it is impossible that a person of good character would commit the crime charged. Therefore, the jury should consider this evidence along with all the other evidence in this case in determining the guilt or the innocence of the defendant.
The circumstances may be such that evidence of good character may alone create a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt, although without it the other evidence would be convincing. However, evidence of good reputation should not constitute an excuse to acquit the defendant, if the jury, after weighing all the evidence, including the evidence of good character, is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant is guilty of the crime charged in the Indictment.

.Instruction 14 reads as follows :
You, as jurors, are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight their testimony deserves. A witness is presumed to speak the truth. But this presumption may be outweighed by the manner in which the witness testifies, by the character of the testimony given, or by contradictory evidence. You should carefully scrutinize the testimony given, the circumstances under which each witness has testified, and every matter in evidence which tends to indicate whether the witness *130is worthy of belief. Consider each witness’s intelligence, motive, and state of mind, and demeanor and manner while on the stand, and his or her character as shown by the evidence. Consider also any relation each witness may bear to either side of the case; the manner in which each witness might be affected by the verdict; and the extent to which, if at all, each witness is either supported or contradicted by other evidence.
Inconsistencies or discrepancies in the testimony of a witness, or between the testimony of different witnesses, may or may not cause the jury to discredit such testimony. Two or more persons witnessing an incident or a transaction may see or hear it differently; and innocent misrecollection, like failure of reconection, is not an uncommon experience. In weighing the effect of a discrepancy, consider whether it pertains to a matter of importance or an unimportant detail, and whether the discrepancy results from innocent error or wilful falsehood.
If you find the presumption of truthfulness to be outweighed as to any witness, you will give the testimony of that witness such credibility, if any, as you may think it deserves.

. Unlike the situation in Tillery v. United States, 411 F.2d 644, 647-648 (5th Cir. 1969), relied on by the majority, the instructions here made it clear that the jury was not bound to believe the testimony of the prosecution witnesses.