Court Opinion

ID: 9687692
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:42:30.991215+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:30.081543
License: Public Domain

JONES, Justice
(concurring specially).
I have troubled considerably over this opinion for two reasons: (1) The trial Judge, in his oral charge erroneously instructed the jury to the effect that defendant had the burden of proof as to his plea of self defense,1 and (2) defendant’s requested charge is lifted virtually word for word out of Lee, cited in the foregoing opinion. It is the peculiar setting in which the issue arises that is troublesome.
It was my first impression that while the requested charge uses the expression “burden,” it is used in the context approved by Lee, i. e., “only burden ... is that the defendant must offer such evidence in support of ' [his self-defense] plea . ” On further reflection, however, I agree that the requested charge is bad and should not have been given even though the trial Court did not properly orally charge the jury as to defendant’s self-defense plea. If we were to approve this requested charge in this case, we would thereby establish a precedent for the giving of such charge at the request of the *371state or by the court in its oral charge in subsequent self-defense plea cases. In all criminal cases, including this case, in which a plea of self-defense had been entered, the burden of proof is never on the defendant to establish his innocence, or to disprove the facts necessary to establish the crime for which he is charged. If the evidence, any or all of it, after considering it all, raises in the minds of the jury a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt, he should be acquitted.
Because of the potential confusion which might arise in the minds of jurors in any given case by the use of the word “burden” in a jury charge in connection with a self-defense plea (assuming, of course, that the issue of self-defense is properly raised and presented by the evidence), I suggest a charge in substance as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, as you were instructed earlier in connection with his plea of not guilty, the defendant has pleaded that he is not guilty of the charge by reason of self-defense. In other words, he has entered a plea of self-defense. I will now charge you on the law of self-defense:
(Here insert appropriate charge on elements of self-defense.)
You will recall, Ladies and Gentlemen, that I have already charged you that the State has the burden of proof in this case; that is, the State has the burden of proving that the defendant committed the offense for which he is charged beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty.
Now, you may well be asking yourselves, in light of the defendant’s plea of self-defense, does the defendant have the burden of proving the elements necessary to sustain such a plea? I charge you that the burden of proof to conclusively establish such a plea of self-defense is never on the defendant; rather, it is sufficient to sustain the defendant’s plea of self-defense if, after a fair consideration of all of the evidence, when taken as a whole, a reasonable doubt is raised in your minds as to whether the defendant acted in self-defense. In all criminal cases, including this case, in which a plea of self-defense has been entered, the burden of proof is never on the defendant to establish his innocence, or to disprove the facts necessary to establish the crime for which he is charged. If the evidence, any or all of it, after considering it all, raises in your minds a reasonable doubt as to his guilt, he should be acquitted.

. It should be noted that defendant did not except to that portion of the Court’s oral charge.