Court Opinion

ID: 9519051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:07:51.27874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:41:07.067913
License: Public Domain

Liacos, J.
(concurring). I join in the court’s conclusion that the judge’s charge as to the meaning of proof beyond a reasonable doubt was “inadequate,” ante at 825, and that “[t]he judge’s iteration that the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt each element of the crime charged lay on the Commonwealth did nothing to convey the weight of that burden.” Ante at 826.1 agree also with the court’s conclusion that the defendant has a right to have this issue reviewed. Additionally, I join in the court’s decision that the error is not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt under the standards set forth in Commonwealth v. Garcia, 379 Mass. 422, 441-442 (1980).
I write separately, however, to reiterate my view that failure by a judge properly to instruct the jury on the elements of the crime charged, and the standard of the government’s burden of proof, deprives the defendant of his right to a fair trial apart from a showing of actual prejudice. I need not restate my reasons, as they are set forth in my dissents in Commonwealth v. Garcia, supra at 445-446, and Commonwealth v. Hughes, 380 Mass. 596, 604 (1980). Defects in a charge which pertain to the elements of the crime and the meaning of proof beyond a reasonable doubt are prejudicial per se and require a new trial.