Court Opinion

ID: 9768019
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:38:51.620941+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:35.623128
License: Public Domain

ONION, Presiding Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the reversal for the inclusion of an improper definition of reasonable doubt to which the appellant properly objected.
The term “reasonable doubt” is not normally defined in a Texas criminal case. A host of cases hold that it should not be defined. See, e.g., Massey v. State, 1 Tex. App. 563, 570 (1877); Fury v. State, 8 Tex. App. 471 (1880);“ McPhail v. State, 9 Tex. App. 164 (1880); Cohea v. State, 9 Tex.App. 173 (1880); Schultz v. State, 20 Tex.App. 315 (1886); Johnson v. State, 27 Tex.App. 163, 11 S.W. 106 (1889); Lenert v. State, 63 S.W. 563 (Tex.Cr.App.1901); Holmes v. State, 68 Tex.Cr.R. 17, 150 S.W. 926 (Tex. Cr.App.1912); Sanchez v. State, 69 Tex. Cr.R. 1134, 153 S.W. 1133 (Tex.Cr.App.1913); Marshall v. State, 76 Tex.Cr.R. 386, 175 S.W. 154 (Tex.Cr.App.1915); Bennett v. State, 91 Tex.Cr.R. 422, 239 S.W. 951 (Tex. Cr.App.1922); Sagu v. State, 94 Tex.Cr.R. 14, 248 S.W. 390 (Tex.Cr.App.1923); Gallegos v. State, 152 Tex.Cr.R. 508, 215 S.W.2d 344 (Tex.Cr.App.1948); Pierce v. State, 159 Tex.Cr.R. 504, 265 S.W.2d 601 (Tex.Cr.App.1954); Pigg v. State, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 521, 287 S.W.2d 673 (Tex.Cr.App.1956). Cf. Whitson v. State, 495 S.W.2d 944 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). Thus in Texas only a nondefinitional charge on “reasonable doubt” is normally given in a criminal case.
While a charge defining reasonable doubt may pass muster, this court does not con*4done the giving of such a charge. Since this is a published opinion, I believe this court should once again call this to the attention of the judges of this state and warn of the dangers inherent in attempting to define reasonable doubt.
I concur.