Oregon Appellate Ct - Aug 31, 2016

by: Sara Werboff • September 2, 2016 • no comments

Jury Instructions - Failure to Instruct on State's Burden to Disprove Defense is Plain Error

The trial court's failure to instruct the jury that the state was required to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt defendant's defense of property defense was plain error. The trial court's instruction, which omitted the burden of proof, did not inform the jury that the state was required to prove that the defense did not apply beyond a reasonable doubt, and therefore the trial court's instruction created an erroneous impression of law that prejudiced defendant.

State v. Gore, 280 Or App 624 (2016) (De Muniz, S.J.)