Court Opinion

ID: 9609794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:31:36.67564+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:52.530590
License: Public Domain

SCHROEDER, Justice,
specially concurs.
I concur in the reasoning and result of the Court’s opinion. There is an additional factor that weighs in the result. Instruction No. 18 is an inaccurate statement of the law, but there is an argument the error was harmless since other instructions set forth an accurate statement of the law. There is evidence that the instruction was not cured by other instructions.
The official record of this case includes Instruction No. 18 which has writing upon it. The word “implied” is written in after the reference to malice aforethought. Neither party could identify how this word came to be on the instruction, but it is clear that the word “implied” was either written by the district judge or by the jury. Otherwise, it would be necessary to conclude that somebody has tampered with the record. There is no indication at all of that. If written by the district judge, which is highly unlikely, it would mislead the jury into believing implied malice could be considered. If written by a member of the jury, which is highly likely, it indicates that at least some member of the jury considered that portion of the definition of malice which was impermissible. In the face of this clear evidence that the concept of implied malice was before the jury, it would be difficult to conclude that the error in the instruction was cured by other instructions or was otherwise harmless.