People v. Johnson

Opinion

ORTEGA, J.

Concluding that the trial court erred in amplifying on the reasonable doubt instruction, we reverse the judgment. Consequently, we do not reach defendant’s claim that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct on a “claim-of-right” burglary defense.

BACKGROUND

After dating for a short while, defendant and the victim became parents of a baby girl. The trio moved into an apartment. Defendant soon left the victim for another woman. Citing physical abuse, the victim obtained a restraining order requiring defendant to stay away from her. Nonetheless, they continued to see each other.

Between December 4, 2002, and February 4, 2003, police responded several times to the victim’s claims that defendant continued to harass her and use physical force such as slamming her finger in the apartment bathroom door, pulling her around by the hair, and beating her up. The victim would routinely complain to the police about abuse and then recant.

On February 4, 2003, defendant went into the victim’s apartment and removed a stereo and a cordless phone. He destroyed the goods by smashing them on the sidewalk.

[1171]

When defendant was arrested, he had in his possession a wallet and identification that had been lost by a person who did not know defendant.

A jury convicted defendant of stalking the victim, burglarizing her apartment, and stealing the lost wallet. The trial court imposed an 11-year second strike sentence.

DISCUSSION

I

During jury selection, the trial court amplified on the concept of reasonable doubt as follows: “The burden is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A doubt that has reason to it, not a ridiculous doubt, not a mere possible doubt. Because we all have a possible doubt whether we will be here tomorrow. That’s certainly a possibility. We could be run over tonight. God, that would be a horrible thing, but it’s a possibility. It’s not reasonable for us to think that we will because we plan our lives around the prospect of being alive. We take vacations; we get on airplanes. We do all these things because we have a belief beyond a reasonable doubt that we will be here tomorrow or we will be here in June, in my case, to go to Hawaii on a vacation. But we wouldn’t plan our live[]s ahead if we had a reasonable doubt that we would, in fact, be alive.”