Court Opinion

ID: 9635333
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:47:25.304204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:24.234078
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
WILNER, J.
I agree that the trial court gave an erroneous instruction in response to the jury’s questions and that the error was not harmless. I think, however, that, in this instance, it was not inappropriate for the trial court to take cognizance of the questions raised by the jury and to make some response to them, for, if it declined to do so, one or more jurors may have reached a verdict on wholly inappropriate and speculative grounds. I think that the appropriate response, in light of the questions, should have been that (1) wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun without a permit is unlawful; (2) the defendant has not claimed that he had a permit; and (3) because the defendant has not claimed that he had a permit, it is not an issue in the case and the State was therefore not required to offer evidence that he did not have one. That would have answered the jury’s question in a proper and neutral manner without getting into burdens of proof, misstating the law, or prejudicing either the defendant or the State. It would have returned the jury’s focus to where it should have been on that count — whether the defendant, in fact, was carrying a handgun, not whether he was entitled to carry such a weapon.