Court Opinion

ID: 9746508
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:19:32.199217+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:14.068723
License: Public Domain

*624CAPPY, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority concludes that the instructions in the instant case were sufficient to inform the jury that no adverse inference can be drawn by the defendant’s failure to testify.1 I cannot agree with that conclusion. Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent.
In Commonwealth v. Lewis, 528 Pa. 440, 598 A.2d 975 (1991), this court held that it was reversible error for the trial court to omit a no adverse inference instruction from the charge to the jury when the instruction has been specifically requested by the defendant. The underpinning for that holding is the guarantee, set forth in Article I, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, that a defendant “cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself.” As stated in Lewis, this constitutional guarantee:
protects the right of the defendant to stand mute protected by the presumption of innocence, without facing the oppressive task of having to explain his or her silence.
Id. at 448, 598 A.2d at 979.
In Lewis the Commonwealth argued that the jury had been fully apprised of the no adverse inference instruction since the trial court explained the concept in the opening remarks to the jury and since the trial court had instructed the jury in the final charge, that the burden of proof remained on the Commonwealth to establish the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. The Commonwealth therein also emphasized that the jurors had. been subject to individual voir dire wherein they each had been reminded that the defendant had *625no duty to testify on his own behalf. In Lewis we rejected the position of the Commonwealth finding
... [s]uch an argument, however, misses the mark. The specific constitutionally mandated “no adverse inference” charge may not be replaced by a patchwork of less direct instructions____ Juries must be told in no uncertain terms that no adverse inference may be drawn from the defendant’s failure to take the stand.
Id. at 450, 598 A.2d at 980.
Although the majority acknowledges the above-quoted principle, it ultimately chooses to resolve this case without reliance thereon. (See majority opinion at 620-21.) Rather, the majority, after citing the very language set forth above, finds that this jury was sufficiently apprised of the no adverse inference concept. The majority reaches this conclusion by finding that the no adverse inference concept was explained to the jurors in the opening remarks of the trial judge. The majority then bolsters its conclusion by tying the opening remarks to the language in the final charge which explained to the jury that the defendant has no obligation to participate in his own trial. In reaching this conclusion, the majority has ignored the very essence of Lewis which it professes to follow. Perhaps the error of the majority opinion is best illustrated by its omission of a significant portion of the Lewis opinion from which it quotes the above-referenced language. That missing language explains why piecemeal instructions to the jury throughout the trial are not adequate in replacing the no adverse inference instruction during the final charge prior to deliberation. The entire paragraph reads as follows:
Such an argument, however, misses the mark. The specific constitutionally mandated “no-adverse-inference” charge may not be replaced by a patchwork of less direct instructions. The entire premise underlying our requirement of the “no-adverse-inference” charge to the jury, under Article I, Section 9, is that the trial judge is vested with an obligation to protect the defendant’s right to remain silent, free from the insidious danger of adverse inference presented by a jury left free to wander in speculation. *626Experience teaches us that the very exercise of an individual’s right not to testify, under Article I, Section 9, may endanger that right if the jury is left free to draw negative inferences from the defendant’s decision to exercise his or her constitutional privilege. The trial court, being in a unique position to protect a defendant’s constitutionally secured right through the jury charge, is the only bulwark to ensure that the exercise of a fundamental right does not turn into an act of constitutional suicide. Having determined in this Commonwealth that a “no-adverse-inference” charge is necessary to secure the guarantees of Article I, Section 9, the judge has either given the charge or he has not. Make-shift substitutes will not suffice. Juries must be told in no uncertain terms that no adverse inference may be drawn from a defendant’s failure to take the stand; otherwise, we are left to' mere guesswork as to the meaning juries have ascribed to tangentially related words of the court. [Footnotes eliminated, Emphasis is added.]
Lewis, 528 Pa. at 450, 598 A.2d at 980. In my view, the majority herein fails to follow the principles underlying the decision in Lewis. The instructions given here were no more sufficient to safeguard the concept embodied within the “no-adverse-inference” instruction than were the similar scattered instructions rejected in Lewis.
In attempting to distinguish Lewis, the majority emphasizes that unlike the jury in Lewis, the Collins jury was given a no adverse inference instruction, albeit it occurred during the opening remarks rather than in the charge. I find the majority’s distinction to be insufficient. In Lewis we rejected this piecemeal approach not because of the presence or absence of any “magic words” as the majority suggests, but because less direct means of conveying constitutional safeguards to the jury will not suffice. Legal principles scattered throughout a trial which can take days to conclude can never fulfill the same function as instructions related to the jury during the final charge which they receive immediately before beginning their deliberations. Thus, it is not the words used to convey the message alone which is at issue, but the combination of the *627words and the timing of the instructions that are essential to protecting the defendant’s right to remain silent. To adopt the position of the majority in this case would turn the holding of Lewis on its head.
Accordingly, I am compelled to respectfully dissent.

. Although this court has never formally adopted the Pennsylvania Standard Criminal Jtuy Instructions, for the purpose of this dissenting opinion, we reference the language as set forth in the "no-adverse-inference” instruction contained therein which provides as follows:
3.10A (Crim) DEFENDANT'S FAILURE TO TESTIFY NOT EVIDENCE OF GUILT
It is entirely up to the defendant in every criminal trial whether or not to testify. He has an absolute right founded on the Constitution to remain silent. You must not draw any inference of guilt from the fact that the defendant did not testify.