Court Opinion

ID: 9722781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:49:57.560936+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:40.002815
License: Public Domain

*410White, C. J., Boslaugh, Smith, and McCown, JJ.,
concurring.
It is the duty and responsibility of the trial court to correctly instruct the jury on the issues presented by the pleadings and the evidence, whether requested to do so or not. It is the duty of counsel to assist the trial court by stating, upon inquiry, any specific objection that counsel may have to a proposed instruction.
The primary responsibility for instructions is with the trial court. But counsel cannot avoid their responsibility to the court by declining comment. The effect of the failure to object to erroneous instructions in a particular case must depend upon the seriousness of the defects, the difficulty involved in discovering the defects, and other similar factors.
To the extent that the, opinion of the court implies that a different result might have obtained if counsel had refused to comment on the proposed instructions, we do not agree.