Duty to Instruct Archives

F-2009-1181

Post author:Staff
Post published:September 2, 2011
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2009-1181, Joe Reaner Strong appealed his conviction for Second Degree Felony Murder. In a published decision, the court decided to reverse the conviction due to the district court's failure to give the jury an instruction requested by Strong on the lesser offense of second degree manslaughter. One member dissented. Joe Reaner Strong was convicted of Second Degree Felony Murder after his two-year-old grandson died in a fire that started when the child found matches at home. At the time, Strong had left his grandson asleep alone for about two hours while he went to pick up his wife. The child was later found unresponsive and died from smoke inhalation. During the trial, the prosecution argued that Strong was responsible for child neglect because he left the child unsupervised. Strong's defense claimed that he was negligent but did not intend for his actions to harm the child. Strong believed that he should have been allowed to present his defense, which included the possibility that he was guilty of a lesser crime - second degree manslaughter instead of murder. The court noted it is important for the jury to hear all aspects of a case, including possible lesser offenses if there is evidence to support them. In this situation, the court stated that there was enough evidence suggesting that Strong's negligence might not rise to the level of murder. Instead, it could have been just an unfortunate accident due to lack of care under the circumstances. The decision determined that the jury should have been instructed on second degree manslaughter because Strong's actions might not have been willful neglect, which is necessary for a murder charge. Because the jury could have reasonably believed that Strong did not intend to leave the child alone and that his actions were the result of carelessness, the court ruled that not allowing this instruction was a mistake that impacted the fairness of the trial. In summary, the appellate court reversed Strong's conviction and ordered a new trial due to the district court's error in handling the jury instructions related to the lesser charge.

F-2003-673

Post author:Staff
Post published:September 1, 2004
Post category:F

In OCCA case No. F-2003-673, Booker James Johnson, Jr., appealed his conviction for procuring a minor to participate in the preparation of obscene material and possession of child pornography. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm the convictions but modified the sentences. One judge dissented. Johnson was found guilty of two serious crimes by a jury in Tulsa County. The jury decided he should go to prison for twenty years for the first conviction and pay a fine of $25,000 for the second. He didn't agree with this and appealed. Johnson claimed there were several problems during his trial. First, he said it was unfair to make him defend against both charges in the same trial. He believed that separate trials would have been better. He also argued that the instructions given to the jury about how to decide his punishment were wrong because they used the wrong law for his first charge. Johnson said he should only serve ten years for that charge instead of twenty based on this mistake. For the second charge, Johnson claimed he should have been charged under a different statute that better fit the crime. As a result, the fine for this charge should have been lower, at $5,000 instead of $25,000. Johnson also argued that his right to a fair trial was damaged by a statement made by the prosecutor during closing arguments, suggesting that both charges should be considered together. He felt that this was unfair and went against his rights. Additionally, Johnson said his lawyer did not help him enough, which made his trial unfair. Finally, he complained that he did not have access to important evidence needed for his defense. The court reviewed all of Johnson's claims. They decided that it was not a big mistake for the trial judge to keep both charges together. However, they did agree that the jury was instructed incorrectly about the first charge, and thus modified the punishment to ten years. For the second charge, they recognized that Johnson should have been charged under a more specific statute, so they also corrected the fine to $5,000. In the end, the court kept Johnson's conviction for both crimes but changed his sentence to ten years in prison for the first charge and a $5,000 fine for the second charge, with some paperwork corrections needed to officially note these changes.