Court Opinion

ID: 9742284
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:10:05.085195+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:15.992831
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
I find that I am unable to vote to affirm this conviction after taking a close look at jury instruction No. 39. The instruction stated as follows:
It is not essential in this cause that the testimony of the prosecuting witness be corroborated by other evidence. It is sufficient if, from all the evidence, you believe beyond a reasonable doubt that *1035the crimes were committed by the Defendant as alleged.
At trial there was extensive corroboration of the testimony of the victim that she was assaulted, stemming from her immediate reports, torn clothing, and physical injuries, but there was no corroboration, direct or circumstantial, of her testimony serving to identify appellant as the person committing that assault. Defense counsel objected to this instruction on the ground that it gave undue attention “to the uncorroborated testimony of one (1) eyewitness.”
This instruction is accurately categorized as an instruction on credibility. It instructs the jury on the proper manner of determining the credibility of a witness and the weight to be given her testimony. The general rule in Indiana governing such instructions on the credibility of witnesses is that they should be general and apply equally to all of the witnesses for the State and the defendant. Swanson v. State (1944), 222 Ind. 217, 52 N.E.2d 616. It is, for example, reversible error to single out the subject of the credibility of the defendant for special definition. McDonough v. State (1961), 242 Ind. 376, 175 N.E.2d 418. The erroneous character of such an instruction on the credibility of a single witness is its tendency to invade the province of the jury in determining the credibility of such witness through a suggestion or intimation of an opinion as to the witness’s credibility or the weight to be given to the testimony of that witness.
Ordinarily the general credibility and weighing instruction is sufficient. That was the basis for the holding in Hackett v. State (1977), 266 Ind. 103, 360 N.E.2d 1000. There the identification of Hackett rested solely upon the testimony of the victim of the crime. Hackett unsuccessfully sought an instruction exhorting the jury to receive that identification testimony with caution and to give consideration to the witness’s opportunity to observe, his certainty, any prior inconsistent identifications and any discrepancies between the prior descriptions and the accused. The Court held that the general instruction on credibility of witnesses was sufficient to advise the jury as to the credibility of the lone identification witness and that the special instruction sought was properly rejected because it tended to “signal special attention upon the testimony of a single eyewitness.” Id. at 108, 360 N.E.2d at 1003. It would appear that the trial judge in the case at bar would have been in accord with the ruling in Hack-ett had he refused to give this special instruction on the credibility of the victim.
The majority opinion properly calls attention to this Court’s opinion in Washburn v. State (1986), Ind., 499 N.E.2d 264. There the Court considered an instruction which stated:
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you may convict the defendant solely on the uncorroborated testimony of the prosecuting witness, provided her testimony, convinces you of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
This Court sustained the giving of this instruction over the objection that it was so repetitive and cumulative of the general instruction on the credibility of witnesses as to overemphasize a particular phase of the case. The Court held that it did not repeat the command of the general credibility instruction and thus properly survived the objection. Washburn is not stare decisis here because of the difference in the focus of the objections in the two cases.
An analysis of Instruction 39 is therefore required. In regard to it, the following points are to be made:
1. The oft-stated rule in appellate court opinions that a conviction may rest upon the uncorroborated testimony of the prosecuting witness, Croney v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 319, 247 N.E.2d 501, is not a standard to be applied by the trier of fact, but is instead a standard to be applied by the trial or appellate court in determining the sufficiency of evidence as a matter of law.
2. The lack of corroboration for testimony is a legitimate element to be considered by the trier of fact in determining the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded their testimony.
3. The lack of corroboration for testimony can be included in the general instruction on credibility and weight and thus be *1036presented in a balanced and fair fashion as applicable to the witnesses of both the prosecution and the defense.
4. The Indiana Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal) contain no express reference to the lack of corroboration for testimony, but do refer to it indirectly in Preliminary Instruction 1.23, Credibility of Witnesses — Weighing Evidence, wherein it is stated:
In weighing the testimony to determine what or whom you will believe, you should use your own knowledge, experience, and common sense gained from day to day living. The number of witnesses who testify to a particular fact, or the quantity of evidence on a particular point need not control your determination of the truth. You should give the greatest weight to that evidence which convinces you most strongly of its truthfulness.
5. Instruction 39, wherein it states, “It is not essential in this cause that the testimony of the prosecuting witness be corroborated by other evidence_” strongly suggests and intimates that the jury, as trier of fact, should not permit the lack of corroboration for the identification testimony of the prosecuting witness to reduce its assessment of her credibility and the weight of her testimony beneath that warranting a verdict of guilty. A jury, confronted with the lone and uncorroborated identification testimony of the prosecuting witness, would receive this instruction as a restraint upon its evaluation of the diminishing effect of the lack of corroboration upon the credibility of that witness and the weight to be accorded her testimony. If, in deliberation, the jury found the evidence to fall for the moment on the fence between that which would support conviction and that which would not, it might reasonably respond to the command of Instruction 39 by diminishing the value of, or discarding altogether, the lack of corroboration element, and thus permit its evaluation of the identification evidence to rise to or above that level which warrants moral certainty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Based upon the foregoing considerations, it was error and an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to give Instruction 39, as it gave special and undue attention to a specific witness, namely the key witness, upon whose lone testimony rests the identification of appellant as the person committing this assault. Hackett, 266 Ind. 103, 360 N.E.2d 1000. This conviction should be reversed and a new trial ordered.