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Erroneous Jury Instruction Gives Defendant Avenue for Appeal

By Baker Associates

For a criminal defendant, one of the most seemingly insignificant moments at trial occurs when all of the proof has been presented and the judge begins to instruct the jury on the specific elements of the offense with which the defendant has been charged as well as all of the elements for any lesser-included offenses which have been requested and approved for submission to the jury. This process can be lengthy, especially for serious charges such as homicide offenses where the lesser-included offenses are numerous, and may seem extremely repetitive when the trial judge goes through all of the elements of the offenses time and time again. What criminal defendants may not realize, though, is that this is one of the most important parts of the trial and errors during this stage of trial can present an important avenue for criminal defendants to exploit on appeal...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on November 28, 2010 (boomark / email).