Court Opinion

ID: 9698336
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:48:04.273067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:40.246414
License: Public Domain

T. E. Bkennan, J.
(dissenting). I must dissent. The notion that the jury has a "right” to be properly instructed is altogether novel. A criminal trial is concerned with the rights of the defendant. If the defendant for tactical or other reasons *463chooses to permit the case to go to the jury on the principal charged offense, without mention of lesser included offenses, that, too, is his right.
If the jury are now to be regarded as having "rights” with respect to the conduct of the trial, are they to have counsel? And if their "rights” are denied them, are they to be redressed on appeal taken by the jury?
Black, J., did not sit in this case.