Court Opinion

ID: 9792820
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:37:24.249155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:25.464231
License: Public Domain

MARTONE, Justice,
concurring.
The court holds that “the [possession of marijuana] instruction did not amount to fundamental or structural error.” Ante, at 56, 932 P.2d at 1327. I would hold that it was not error at all. Ordinarily, we first determine “whether there is error, and then whether it is fundamental.” State v. Youngblood, 173 Ariz. 502, 504-05 n. 2, 844 P.2d 1152, 1154-55 n. 2 (1993); State v. King, 158 Ariz. 419, 424, 763 P.2d 239, 244 (1988).
There is no error here because the “reasonable inference” language simply described circumstantial as opposed to direct evidence. It had nothing to do with the state’s burden of proof. Nor is there likelihood of confusion here. This jury was told that the state must prove each element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. One ought to be able to give other instructions without repeating the reasonable doubt instruction. One even ought to be able to help the jury by combining a circumstantial evidence instruction with a possession instruction, as here. It is a correct statement of the law. We tell juries all the time that they are to decide cases based upon the evidence and any reasonable inference they may draw from the evidence. In a criminal case, if an inferred fact is an element of the charge, it still must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, as the reasonable doubt instruction clearly states.
Because there is no error, there is no fundamental error.