Court Opinion

ID: 9855784
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:30:59.574989+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:37:03.636704
License: Public Domain

PEDERSON, Justice,
concurring specialty-
By applying binding precedent and ignoring the real world in which juries must operate, I concur in the disposition reached in the opinion authored by Justice Vande-Walle. I do not agree with part II of the opinion. The decision as to whether a charge to a jury under Rule 31(c), NDRCrimP, should or should not be given is dependent upon the circumstances at that particular time and place. See the wide variety of cases annotated in 102 A.L.R. 1019, 27 A.L.R. 1097, and 21 A.L.R. 603. Also, 11 A.L.R.Fed. 173. Rule 31(c) creates neither a constitutional right, nor a substantive right. We should not set down strict guidelines that may not fit the circumstances to be encountered when the matter once more comes before the court.