State v. Austin

2007 UT 55, 165 P.3d 1191, 582 Utah Adv. Rep. 20, 2007 Utah LEXIS 134, 2007 WL 2033498
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 2007
DocketNos. 20060508, 20060541, 20060566
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2007 UT 55 (State v. Austin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Austin, 2007 UT 55, 165 P.3d 1191, 582 Utah Adv. Rep. 20, 2007 Utah LEXIS 134, 2007 WL 2033498 (Utah 2007).

Opinion

DURHAM, Chief Justice:

T1 The defendants in these consolidated cases were tried and convicted of separate offenses. They each assert, however, that the reasonable doubt jury instruction used at their trials violated the standard set forth by this court in State v. Reyes, 2005 UT 33, 116 P.3d 305, because all the instructions included the statement that the State's evidence must "eliminate all reasonable doubt." We conclude that the instructions were permissible because the instructions, in their entirety, adequately conveyed to the jury the principle of reasonable doubt.

BACKGROUND

12 At his trial, the jury found Mr. Kinne guilty of burglary, theft, receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Mr. Halls was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance, possession of an imitation controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia, and Mr. Austin was convicted of murder, theft of an operable motor vehicle, and interference with an arresting officer. Each defendant received a very similar reasonable doubt instruction. Mr. Kinne and Mr. Halls received the following instruction: 1

A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This presumption follows the defendant throughout the trial. If a defendant's guilt [1193]*1193is not shown beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant should be acquitted.
The state must eliminate all reasonable doubt. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not proof to an absolute certainty. Reasonable doubt is a doubt based on reason, which is reasonable in view of all the evidence. Reasonable doubt is not a doubt based on fancy, imagination, or wholly speculative possibility. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is enough proof to satisfy the mind, or convince the understanding of those bound to act conscientiously, and enough to eliminate reasonable doubt. A reasonable doubt is a doubt that people would entertain based upon the evidence in the case.2

(Emphasis added.)

{3 Neither Mr. Kinne's nor Mr. Halls trial counsel ever objected to this instruction, and in fact, Mr. Kinne's proposed reasonable doubt jury instruction contained the language, "The State's evidence must eliminate all reasonable doubt." Mr. Austin's proposed jury instruction contained the sentence, "It is the burden of the State to obviate all reasonable doubt." At trial, Mr. Austin's counsel objected to the court's use of the term "eliminate" in place of the term "obviate" contained in the defense's proposed instruction. The court, reasoning that jurors would more easily understand the term "eliminate," did not change the instruction. Thus, the substance of the instruction was never contested by any of the defendants.

{4 On appeal to the court of appeals, however, the defendants objected to the instruction's use of the phrase "eliminate all reasonable doubt," claiming that it incorrectly stated the law and violated their due process rights. See State v. Halls, 2006 UT App 142, 134 P.3d 1160; State v. Austin, 2006 UT App 184U, 2006 WL 1174241; State v. Kinne, 2006 UT App 156U, 2006 WL 1030328. We granted certiorari to determine whether our holding in State v. Reyes, 2005 UT 33, 116 P.3d 305, applied to the court of appeals' consideration of the defendants' appeals,3 whether the court of appeals erred in reviewing the challenges to the reasonable doubt instruction for plain error, and whether the instruction that the State's evidence must "eliminate all reasonable doubt" constituted reversible error in light of our decision in Reyes. We consolidated the cases and have jurisdiction pursuant to Utah Code section 78-2-2(8)(a), (5) (2002).

ANALYSIS

15 We begin by recognizing that the parties presented arguments and analysis regarding appellate review of the contested jury instruction where trial counsel failed to object to the instruction, and where, for two of the defendants, trial counsel in fact requested that the particular phrase, or a functionally equivalent phrase, be used. The parties treated the doctrines of plain error, structural error, exceptional circumstances, and manifest injustice. The State presented arguments suggesting that appellate review is barred by the invited error doctrine. However, because we conclude that no error occurred and because we deem it advisable to treat the substance of the claim in this matter due to confusion that has arisen as a result of our opinion in State v. Reyes, 2005 UT 33, 116 P.3d 305, we take this opportunity to clarify the use of the terms "eliminate" and "obviate" in reasonable doubt jury instructions.4 We review the contested reasonable doubt instructions for correctness because "whether a jury instruction correctly states the law presents a question of law." [1194]*1194State v. Cruz, 2005 UT 45, ¶ 16, 122 P.3d 543 (internal quotation marks omitted).

16 The government must prove every element of a charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). For several years, our standard for reasonable doubt jury instructions was that outlined in State v. Robertson, 932 P.2d 1219 (Utah 1997), overruled by State v. Reyes, 2005 UT 33, 116 P.3d 305. That test mandated, among other requirements, that the instructions "specifically state that the State's proof must obviate all reasonable doubt." Id. at 1282 (internal quotation marks omitted). In Reyes, this court abandoned the Robertson test. However, what the defendants fail to recognize is that in Reyes the focal point of our concern was the United States Supreme Court's decision in Victor v. Nebraska, 511 U.S. 1, 114 S.Ct. 1239, 127 L.Ed.2d 583 (1994), rather than the term "obviate." In State v. Cruz, a case argued the same day as Reyes, we made this clear. In Crug, we described the effect of Reyes: "[T}he Robertson test is no longer in force. We now adhere instead to the Victor test for assessing the validity of reasonable doubt instrue-tions." Cruz, 2005 UT 45, T 21, 122 P.3d 543 (citation omitted). In Victor, the Supreme Court recognized that "the Constitution neither prohibits trial courts from defining reasonable doubt nor requires them to do so as a matter of course." Victor, 511 U.S. at 5, 114 S.Ct. 1289. Furthermore, "the Constitution does not require that any particular form of words be used in advising the jury of the government's burden of proof." Id. The Victor test requires only that "the instructions, taken as a whole, correctly communicate the principle of reasonable doubt, namely, that a defendant cannot be convicted of a crime 'except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged." Cruz, 2005 UT 45, ¶ 21, 122 P.3d 543 (quoting In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970)). Thus, the Robertson test, mandating specific language, was at odds with the Supreme Court's "expansive approach to the content of reasonable doubt instructions"; and this was the driving force behind our decision in Reyes, not the use of one word or phrase in a particular instruction. Reyes, 2005 UT 33, ¶ 8, 116 P.3d 305.

17 The instruction given at the defendants' trials meets the Victor standard.

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Bluebook (online)
2007 UT 55, 165 P.3d 1191, 582 Utah Adv. Rep. 20, 2007 Utah LEXIS 134, 2007 WL 2033498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-austin-utah-2007.