Court Opinion

ID: 9582477
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:27:17.070924+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:50.275691
License: Public Domain

*265Justice PLEICONES:
I concur with the result reached by the majority. At the time Burkhart was tried, he was entitled to the charge he requested: That the State has the burden of disproving, beyond a reasonable doubt, his self-defense claim. Upon further reflection, however, I am convinced that this charge is confusing and imposes an impossible burden on the State.
In every criminal trial the burden is on the State to prove every element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Instructions should focus the jury’s attention on this fundamental principle. The charge mandated by Addison and Wiggins, in essence, requires the State prove, not an element of the offense, but rather a negative.
I agree with the following statement of the law taken from State v. Davis, 282 S.C. 45, 46, 317 S.E.2d 452, 453 (1984): If, after considering, all the evidence presented including the evidence of self-defense, the jury has a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt, then the jury must find the defendant not guilty. On the other hand, if, after considering all the evidence including the evidence of self-defense, the jury has no reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt, then it must find the defendant guilty.
In my view, this statement properly informs the jury of the State’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
I therefore concur in the result, and would prospectively overrule State v. Addison, 343 S.C. 290, 540 S.E.2d 449 (2000), and State v. Wiggins, 330 S.C. 538, 500 S.E.2d 489 (1998).
BURNETT, J., concurs.