Court Opinion

ID: 9550788
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:42:33.538614+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:25.775432
License: Public Domain

McEWAN, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in all that is said in the majority opinion except that relating to immunity. It seems to me the grant of immunity by the State must necessarily raise a presumption that there was sufficient evidence to criminally charge the one to whom immunity was granted. If this was not so why would immunity have been granted? Here the physical facts appear sufficient for charges to have been lodged against DeLorme. There was, in my opinion, sufficient factual basis to submit the question of whether or not the witness was an accomplice to the jury had a request been made. In the absence of a request for an accomplice instruction, and since instructions were given on the credibility of witnesses, I am of the opinion that no error *493was committed by the trial court in not giving an instruction on its own. For reasons hereinafter mentioned I would go further and suggest that a trial court might well commit reversible error if an accomplice instruction was given absent a request because I believe it almost impossible to give such an instruction which is not unfavorable to the defendant.
Here the following cautionary instructions were given:
“ * * * it is the exclusive province of the jury * * * to determine the credibility of all witnesses * *
“The jury is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses, and of the weight to be given their testimony. In so doing, you may take into consideration all the facts and circumstances in the case, and give to each such weight as in the light of your experience and knowledge of human affairs you think it entitled to.
“In judging the credibility of the witnesses in this case, you should take into consideration their demeanor upon the witness stand, their apparent intelligence or lack of intelligence, their means of knowledge of the facts testified to, the interest, if any, which any witness may have in the outcome of this trial, the prejudice of motives, or feelings of revenge, if any has been shown by the evidence in this case.”
My examination of the many accomplice instructions convinces me that it is difficult, if not impossible, to draft an instruction which is not argumentative, confusing, misleading, or which does not invade the province of the jury. Most accomplice instructions, and certainly one given where the witness testified he was criminally involved in the commission of the crime and implicated the defendant, either state or imply that the witness was an accomplice. If there is an accomplice a crime must necessarily have been committed. One of the basic elements of proof required of the State is the showing that a crime had been committed. If the jury is instructed that a witness is an accomplice, a judicial determination has been made that a crime has been committed. Such determination is for the jury and not the court.
I therefore suggest that counsel for a defendant in an accomplice situation would be better advised to not seek an accomplice instruction and to deal with the evidentiary elements affecting the credibility of an accomplice’s testimony during cross-examination and argument to the jury emphasizing the factors contained in the instructions on the credibility to be given to a witness’ testimony.