Summary
The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed Robert Keith Ray’s convictions for attempted first degree murder, first degree assault, and accessory to first degree murder. It held that the self-defense instructions did not improperly shift the burden of proof because the jury was properly instructed that the prosecution had to disprove the affirmative defense beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also held that the trial court erred by permitting unrestricted jury access to a recorded witness interview, but that the error was harmless.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the self-defense-related jury instruction improperly shifted to Ray the burden of proving conditions underlying the availability of the affirmative defense.
- Whether the district court abused its discretion by allowing the jury unrestricted access during deliberations to the recorded police interview of Jeremy Green.
- Whether any error resulting from the unrestricted jury access to the recorded interview was harmless.
Holdings
- Instruction No. 25 did not permit the jury to reconsider the court's determination that self-defense was available and did not shift the burden of disproving the affirmative defense to Ray. The district court therefore did not err in instructing the jury on Ray's claim that he acted in defense of himself and a third person.
- The district court erred by allowing the jury unrestricted access to the testimonial recording without exercising discretion to assess the risk of undue prejudice or emphasis. Nevertheless, the error was harmless because the recording was not the linchpin of the prosecution's case and the other evidence of Ray's intent and conduct was substantially more direct and powerful.
Key quotations
“we have consistently emphasized that the trial court must exercise its discretion in allowing such exhibits into the jury room, with the ultimate objective of assessing whether using the exhibit in question will aid the jury in its proper consideration of the case, and even if so, whether a party will nevertheless be unfairly prejudiced by the jury’s use of it” (¶ 16)
“Although error resulted from the district court’s reliance on later-overruled case law permitting the jury to have unrestricted access to the exhibit in question, when the content of that exhibit is compared with the other evidence admitted at trial, the error was harmless.” (¶ 24)
Factual background
The charges arose from a July 4, 2004 melee at Lowry Park. During the confrontation, Ray displayed a handgun, his close friend Sir Mario Owens shot Gregory Vann, and Elvin Bell and Javad Marshall-Fields were subsequently shot while pursuing Owens. Ray admitted shooting Bell but claimed self-defense of himself and Owens, denied shooting Marshall-Fields, and acknowledged helping Owens evade capture. A recorded police interview of witness Jeremy Green, in which Green stated that Ray repeatedly threatened to kill everyone, was admitted and made available to the jury during deliberations.
Procedural history
Ray was convicted in the district court of accessory to the murder of Gregory Vann and attempted first degree murder and first degree assault arising from shootings of Elvin Bell and Javad Marshall-Fields. The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed. The Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari on whether the jury instructions improperly shifted the burden of proof on self-defense and whether unrestricted jury access to a recorded witness interview violated Ray's rights and constituted an abuse of discretion. The Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals.