Court Opinion

ID: 9757033
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:15:21.023969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:34.248323
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
concurring:
I cannot join the majority’s opinion because it approves the trial judge’s charge on reasonable doubt.
Although most of the charge was, as the majority says, “correct and thorough”, it was incorrect to charge: “To summarize, you can’t find the defendant guilty based on *278mere suspicion of guilt.” True, mere suspicion will not support a finding of guilt. That proposition, however, does not “summarize” but rather misstates the jury’s duty. To “summarize” the duty by saying, “You can’t find the defendant guilty based on mere suspicion of guilt,” necessarily implies, “You can find him guilty based on something more [How much more?] than mere suspicion of guilt.”
I nevertheless concur in the result reached by the majority. The incorrectness of the charge is not before us, so the majority’s approval of the charge is mere dictum. On the point that is properly before us—the trial judge’s refusal to permit the requested voir dire—I agree with the majority.