Court Opinion

ID: 9710493
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:10:47.821469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:46.928616
License: Public Domain

CASTILLE, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that it was reversible error for the trial court to submit written instructions to the jury in this case. I believe that Commonwealth v. Oleynik, 524 Pa. 41, 568 A.2d 1238 (1990) was wrongly decided, and that trial courts should have discretion to submit standard written instructions to juries in appropriate circumstances.
The holding of Oleynik and the majority’s position in the instant matter increase the risk, particularly in long and complicated trials, that the jury will be unable to properly apply the law to the facts of the case because it is unable to understand or remember the legal principles enunciated in the oral charge. Jury instructions have become so complex and laden with legalese that they are virtually incomprehensible at times to the average juror. Unless it requests repetition by the court, the jury hears the often obscurely worded instructions once. The jury receives no further legal guidance during its arduous journey towards reaching a verdict. I believe that permitting trial judges to submit written jury instructions could improve jury comprehension and the reliability of verdicts.
Written instructions are highly appropriate to assist jurors who do not understand or accurately recall the trial judge’s instructions after the initial oral presentation by the judge. The majority’s position fails to recognize that jurors do not have perfect memories. There is an invariable risk that jurors will not remember or comprehend the quantity of complex information necessary to make informed and well-reasoned verdicts without the use of some form of written aid. “One of the greatest fictions known to the law is that a jury of *181twelve laymen can hear a judge read a set of instructions once, then understand them, digest them, and correctly apply them to the facts in the case. It has taken the judge and the lawyers years of study to understand the law as stated in those instructions.” Susan R. Schwaiger, The Submission of Written Instructions and Statutory Language to New York Criminal Juries, 56 Brooklyn L.Rev. 1358, 1360 (1991) (quoting Judge Frank Swain, Common Sense in Jury Trials, 30 Cal. St. B.J. 405, 412 (1955)).
At common law, the submission of written materials to the jury was prohibited because of the concern that literate jurors would have unfair influence over nonliterate jurors, thereby prejudicing the verdict. See Robert G. Nieland, Pattern Jury Instructions: A Critical Look at a Modem Movement to Improve the Jury System, 29-30 (1979). Literacy is no longer a primary concern, and modern trials have made exclusive reliance on oral presentation impractical. Further, differences in education and social status always affect the relative roles of jurors, and better-educated jurors are likely to be influential even if the instructions are given orally. It is possible that a juror with a stronger vocabulary would glean more from the oral instruction and become the legal expert of the jury, dominating the deliberation. By contrast, if the jury is provided written instructions in addition to oral instructions, a juror who did not capture a crucial legal concept during the oral presentation can reread the instruction. With oral instructions, a confused juror must either rely on the memory of a fellow juror or persuade the entire jury to approach the court for re-instruction. In Oleynik, this Court adhered to the common law tradition in the face of overwhelming evidence that the concerns that gave rise to that tradition are now obsolete and that a modern set of concerns militate heavily against it.
In Oleynik, this Court suggested that written instructions were likely to mislead the jurors because they would tend to read only part of the instructions, and would attempt to construe the writing on their own rather than returning to the court for further instruction if they had questions. The *182majority today espouses that written instructions increase the risk that the jury will misinterpret and misapply the law. I believe that these positions are not grounded in sound logic. Realistically, even in straightforward cases, lay jurors will capture only an approximation of the rules of law when those rules are communicated in a single oral presentation. Jurors may misapply the law regardless of whether the instructions are oral or written. It is far more likely that jurors will misunderstand and misapply a complex set of rules told to them one time, than if they have the rules with them during deliberations. Further, jurors’ difficulty with oral instructions has been well documented.1
The United States Supreme Court has approved the practice of submitting a written jury charge. Haupt v. United States, 330 U.S. 631, 643, 67 S.Ct. 874, 879-80, 91 L.Ed. 1145 (1947) (allowing the jury to have a typewritten copy of the court’s charge does not warrant the inference of unfairness or irregularity in the trial). The federal courts and approximately thirty states favor the submission of a written charge. Propriety and Prejudicial Effect of Sending Written Instructions With Retiring Jury In Criminal Cases, 91 A.L.R.3d 382 *183(1979).2 Besides Pennsylvania, Indiana is the only state to prohibit the use of written instructions. Id.; see Sanders v. Indiana, 264 Ind. 688, 348 N.E.2d 642, 644 (1976). I agree with the majority of courts which have held that the use of written instructions is permissible. Written instructions would help keep the jury focused on the law applicable to the case, thereby benefitting all parties.
Further, I agree with the Superior Court’s conclusion in this matter that the submission of written instructions to the jury constituted harmless error. The trial court gave the jury written instructions on the definition of reasonable doubt and unlawful restraint. Appellant was acquitted of unlawful restraint. Therefore, there was no prejudice as to the unlawful restraint instruction. Additionally, appellant was acquitted of five other charges. In order to convict appellant of six charges and acquit him of five in the consistent manner in which it did,3 the jury must have understood the concept of reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the issuance of written instructions to the jury did not constitute reversible error as the majority concludes.
For the aforementioned reasons, I dissent.
NEWMAN, J., joins this dissenting opinion.

. See Laurence J. Severance & Elizabeth F. Loftus, Improving the Ability of Jurors to Comprehend and Apply Criminal Jury Instructions, 17 Law & Soc’y Rev. 153, 154, 172 (1982) (in a study of the effectiveness of pattern jury instructions, nearly one quarter of 405 mock juries requested written clarification of the instructions); Robert F. Forston, Sense and Non-Sense: Jury Trial Communication, 1975 B.Y.U. L.Rev. 601, 613-15 (1975) (in a study involving 114 experienced jurors, instructions lasting 20 minutes and involving no complex issues were read to participants. The jurors were tested immediately after having heard the instructions for comprehension. Nearly one-half of the jurors defined preponderance of the evidence as looking at the exhibits in the jury room,’ or as slow and careful pondering of the evidence.’ The mean score for criminal instructions was 53% correct answers. Eighty-six percent of the criminal juries were unable to respond accurately to what was proof of guilt); William W. Schwarzer, Communicating With Juries: Problems and Remedies, 69 Calif. L.Rev. 731, 740-44 (1981) (noting that during a verbal presentation of a series of concepts and items of information, a listener normally will lack the time needed to complete processing, interpreting, and storing the material. Jurors simply cannot remember, let alone master, instructions after having heard them only once).

. See Untied States v. Watson, 669 F.2d 1374, 1386-87 (11th Cir.1982) (stating that the use of written instructions aids jurors’ comprehension and expedites proceedings); see e.g. Iowa v. Jackson, 397 N.W.2d 512, 513 (Iowa 1986); Ill.Ann.Stat. ch. 735, para. 5/2-1107 (1997); Ga.Code. Ann. 9-10-5 (Michie Supp.1997); People v. Sheldon, 48 Cal.3d 935, 258 Cal.Rptr. 242, 246, 771 P.2d 1330, 1334 (1989), cert. denied 513 U.S. 1022, 115 S.Ct. 591, 130 L.Ed.2d 504 (1994); Baker v. Florida, 247 So.2d 495, 496 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1971).

. Appellant was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of rape by forcible compulsion, rape by threat of forcible compulsion, indecent assault, making false reports, indecent exposure, and one count of conspiracy to rape by forcible compulsion. He was acquitted of terroristic threats, simple assault, unlawful restraint, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and one count of conspiracy to commit rape by forcible compulsion.