Court Opinion

ID: 9654764
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 18:50:11.811881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:13.027312
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge
(concurring).
I concur fully in the Per Curiam opinion, but file this concurring opinion so that I may express my view that in future cases, wherein the accused does not testify and does not object, trial courts should instruct the jury to the effect “that a defendant cannot be compelled to take the witness *557stand and that the jurors should not permit the failure to testify to influence them in arriving at a verdict.” Miller v. United States, 8th Cir., 410 F.2d 1290, 1296. I find support for this point of view in Caton v. United States, 8th Cir., 407 F.2d 367, wherein the Court expressed itself in the footnote at the bottom of page 375, as follows : “In Wilson v. United States, 149 U.S. 60, 13 S.Ct. 765, [37 L.Ed. 650] (1893), Mr. Justice Field held that it was error to comment on the failure of an accused to testify. The decision was based on the Act of Congress of March 16, 1878 (20 Stat. 30) which provided that a criminal defendant could testify in his own behalf but charged that his failure to testify should not create a presumption against him. Mr. Justice Field reasoned that the only way to effectuate the Congressional purpose was to prevent any comment on the failure to testify.
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“Implicit in Mr. Justice Field’s reasoning is the conclusion that without comment on the accused’s right to testify, a jury, because of the common law rule, then only recently changed, would presume that a defendant was not permitted to testify. It would thus attach little significance to his failure to do so.
“The reverse is perhaps true today. Most jurors are well aware of an accused’s right to testify in his own behalf. Experience, however, has indicated that jurors tend to be suspicious of those who do not testify (See, 8 Wigmore, Evidence § 2272 (McNaughton rev. 1961)); thus, in Bruno v. United States, 308 U.S. 287, 292, 60 S.Ct. 198, 200, [84 L.Ed. 257] (1939), the Court recognized the propriety of giving the instructions which admonished the jury that it should not presume guilt from silence:
‘“The only way Congress could provide that abstention from testifying should not tell against an accused was by an implied direction to judges to exercise their traditional duty in guiding the jury by indicating the considerations relevant to the latter’s verdict on the facts.’ ”
I believe the giving of such instruction is permissible under Missouri law. Section 546.270, supra, expressly prohibits only reference “by any attorney in the case” to the failure of accused to testify. I recognize that in State v. Robinson, 117 Mo. 649, 663, 23 S.W. 1066, 1070, and in cases which have followed the Robinson case (see 9A Mo. Digest, Criminal Law <⅜=787), it has been held that it was not error to refuse to give the instruction. On the other hand, it has always been considered permissible in Missouri for the trial court to give the instruction sua sponte. State v. De Witt, 186 Mo. 61, 84 S.W. 956; State v. Renard, Mo.Sup., 273 S.W. 1058. In State v. De Witt, supra, 186 Mo. 61, 65-67, 84 S.W. 956, 957-958, this Court said:
“A further contention is made that the court erred in instructing the jury ‘that the fact that the defendant did not testify should not be considered by the jury in arriving at a verdict in this case, and no juror should be prejudiced against the defendant because he did not testify in the case.’ Our statute (section 2638, Rev.St. 1899) provides that: ‘If the accused shall not avail himself or herself of his or her right to testify or of the testimony of the wife or husband on the trial in the case, it shall not be construed to affect the innocence or guilt of the accused, nor shall the same raise any presumption of guilt nor be referred to by any attorney in the case nor be considered by the court or jury before whom the trial takes place.’ Counsel for defendant urges that the giving of the foregoing instruction was a violation of section 2638, supra, and was a comment on the evidence. The latter objection is clearly not tenable. Certainly it was not a prejudicial comment to defendant. Was it a violation of the statute to mention the failure to testify? Every juror knows that the defendant may testify if he sees fit, and we have often ruled that it is reversible error for counsel for the state to comment upon such failure; but does this instruction in any way fall within the mischiefs which we have so often condemned? We think not. By it the jury were cautioned and *558prohibited from using such fact in arriving at a verdict. The jury are required to accept the law of the case from the court, and when the court positively directs them they shall not consider a certain fact how can it be said that such a charge is prejudicial error. We are, however, confronted with what was said in State v. Robinson, 117 Mo. 649, 23 S.W. 1066. In that case the defendant prayed an instruction that his failure to testify should not create any presumption against him, which was refused, and the refusal was assigned as error in this court. It was held not error, and it was added, ‘If the court had given such an instruction, it would have disobeyed the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.’ That such an instruction is not necessary, and that it would not be error to refuse it, we may concede; but is it reversible error to give it in the form in which this sixth instruction was given in this case ? Upon a full reconsideration of the point we are satisfied it was not prejudicial to the defendant. It is the law that the jury shall not consider the failure of the defendant to testify, and how can it, in reason, be held error for the court to caution the jury against considering that which the law forbids? Taking the whole section together, and the purpose of its enactment, we think it was designed to prevent the indulging of any adverse presumption by court or jury from the failure of defendant to testify, and to prohibit any adverse comment on that account; but to say that when a court directs a jury they shall not consider such a failure to testify in making up their verdict amounts to an adverse comment is illogical and unreasonable, and we must reject such a conclusion. We think that while it was unnecessary to give the instruction it was not reversible error to do so.”
In State v. Denison, 352 Mo. 572, 581, 178 S.W.2d 449, 455, appears the following language: “Our cases have followed a vacillating course in deciding whether the jury should be instructed about their duty under the statute to ignore the defendant’s failure to testify. The conclusion reached seems to be that the statute forbids the giving of such an instruction, even on the defendant’s request, because the instruction, itself, would amount to a comment on his failure to testify; or at least that [it] is not error to refuse the instruction. In consequence, our established practice is rigidly to refrain throughout the trial from any reference to the defendant’s failure to take the witness stand. The jury simply are not informed about the requirements of the Constitution and statute.” I would reject this language because (1) the propriety of giving the instruction sua sponte was not an issue in the Denison case, and (2) it ignored the De Witt holding. I would reaffirm the holding in the De Witt case to the effect that it is permissible in Missouri for the trial court to give the instruction sua sponte.
Accordingly, I would hold that in all criminal cases, in which trial begins after the date of publication of such holding in the advance sheet of the Southwestern Reporter, and wherein the defendant does not testify and does not object (cf. Caton v. United States, supra), trial courts should give an instruction in substantially the following form (cf. Mathes and Devitt, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, § 9.-11):
“The law does not compel a defendant in a criminal case to take the witness stand and testify, and no presumption of guilt may be raised, and no inference of any kind may be drawn, from the failure of [the] defendant to testify.”
The adoption of the above procedure would affect future cases as follows:
(1) In all cases where comments are made by the prosecutor which do not constitute direct and certain references to the failure of the accused to testify, but may have been so understood by the jury, and, therefore, may have influenced their verdict, the giving of such instruction would, in most instances, render any error harmless. In United States v. DiCarlo, 2 Cir., 64 F.2d 15, 1. c. 18, the Court said: “ * * * *559We should be blind to realities if we supposed that juries are unconscious of the omission of a defendant to take the stand, and we think the express instruction to the jury in this case, that this fact must not prejudice the defendant, did all that could ever be done to prevent the consideration by them of the omission in arriving at their verdict.” See also Baker v. United States, 8th Cir., 115 F.2d 533, 544; Coleman v. Denno, D.C., 223 F.Supp. 938; United States ex rel. Coleman v. Denno, 2 Cir., 330 F.2d 441; and Miller v. United States, supra, 8 Cir., 410 F.2d 1290, 1296.
(2) In all cases where comments are made by the prosecutor which do constitute direct and certain references to the failure of the accused to testify, the giving of such instruction zvould not render the error harmless and the case would be reversed and remanded for new trial. Section 546.-270, supra; State v. Shuls, 329 Mo. 245, 44 S.W.2d 94.
In my opinion, the question presented by the prosecutor’s argument in this case evidences the need to establish a procedure which will serve effectually to (1) protect the constitutional and statutory right of an accused to remain silent, and (2) preserve as well the right of the State to effectively argue its case. I believe adoption of the suggested procedure would represent a conscious effort on the part of this Court to resolve this troublesome problem and to minimize the possibility of reversible error because of arguments such as were made in this case.
I concur in the Per Curiam opinion because I find no prejudicial error in this case even absent the giving of the suggested instruction. I believe the suggested procedure, if adopted, would not constitute a “constitutional adjudication” making it necessary (1) that the defendant have the benefit of it, and (2) that the case be reversed and remanded. Cf. Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 301, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199; State v. Tyarks, Mo.Sup., 433 S.W.2d 568, 570. Therefore, I concur in the Per Curiam opinion and express my additional views in this concurring opinion.