Court Opinion

ID: 9852973
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:40:25.463321+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:38.739109
License: Public Domain

LUMPKIN, Judge,
concurring in result.
While I agree the case must be reversed, I write to correct one point in the Court’s reasoning, and to specifically delineate the factors used in determining reversal is necessary.
The error in the Court’s analysis lies in its review to determine whether “the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Slip op. at 4. This is incorrect. Although there is no doubt the presumption of innocence is deeply ingrained in our system of justice, we need not resort to vague pronouncements in our jurisprudence to find its origin; it is reflected in 22 O.S.1991, § 836,1 and has been since before statehood. As the Court correctly states, the presumption of innocence is “not articulated in the Constitution” and the decision in this case is based on a violation of a “right guaranteed by statute, [22 O.S.1991, § 836]”.
Consequently, the correct standard of review is not whether the error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, but whether we have “grave doubts” the error in instructing the jury did not have a “substantial influence” on the outcome of the trial. Simpson v. State, 876 P.2d 690, 702 (Okl.Cr.1994).
The Court’s opinion also does not specifically state how it arrived at its decision that reversal was warranted. I would use the factors enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Kentucky v. Whorton, 441 U.S. 786, 99 S.Ct. 2088, 60 L.Ed.2d 640 (1979). There, the Court said the failure to give a requested instruction on the presumption of innocence does not in and of itself violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; rather,
“such a failure must be evaluated in light of the totality of the circumstances — including all the instructions to the jury, the arguments of counsel, whether the weight *564of the evidence was overwhelming, and other relevant factors — to determine whether the defendant received a constitutionally fair trial.”
Id. 441 U.S. at 789, 99 S.Ct. at 2090. This is the standard this Court used in the past. See Hyatt v. State, 779 P.2d 993, 995 (Okl.Cr.1989) (used factors to determine failure to give instruction on presumption of innocence was harmless error). Absent abandonment of that standard for review, we are bound to it by stare decisis.
Here, as the opinion notes, the error in instruction was not cured by an appropriate burden of proof instruction; hence, I consider it decisive that in light of all the instructions given, the erroneous instruction given did in fact constitute an impermissible lessening of the burden of proof “by expanding the degree of doubt that is permissible.” Op. at 562.
In light of the instructions given, some inappropriate comments by the prosecutor, the sufficient but not overwhelming evidence of guilt and the particular circumstances of this case, I agree reversal is warranted, I am not certain “the error did not influence the jury, or had a very slight effect” on the verdict. Simpson, 876 P.2d at 702. It is because of these “grave doubts,” Id., that I concur in result.

. That provision reads: "A defendant in a criminal action is presumed to be innocent until the contrary is proved, and in case of a reasonable doubt as to whether his guilt is satisfactorily shown, he is entitled to be acquitted."