Cite as: 511 U. S. 1 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
daca v. Oregon, 406 U. S. 404, 412, n. 6 (1972) (plurality opinion). See also Perovich v. United States, 205 U. S. 86, 92 (1907) (approving Webster charge). In People v. Strong, 30 Cal. 151, 155 (1866), the California Supreme Court characterized the Webster instruction as "probably the most satisfactory definition ever given to the words 'reasonable doubt' in any case known to criminal jurisprudence." In People v. Paulsell, 115 Cal. 6, 12, 46 P. 734 (1896), the court cautioned state trial judges against departing from that formulation. And in 1927, the state legislature adopted the bulk of the Webster instruction as a statutory definition of reasonable doubt. Cal. Penal Code Ann. § 1096 (West 1985); see California Jury Instructions, Criminal, No. 2.90 (4th ed. 1979). Indeed, the California Legislature has directed that "the court may read to the jury section 1096 of this code, and no further instruction on the subject of the presumption of innocence or defining reasonable doubt need be given." § 1096a. The statutory instruction was given in Sandoval's case.
The California instruction was criticized in People v. Brigham, 25 Cal. 3d 283, 292-316, 599 P. 2d 100, 106-121 (1979) (Mosk, J., concurring). Justice Mosk apparently did not think the instruction was unconstitutional, but he "urge[d] the Legislature to reconsider its codification." Id., at 293, 599 P. 2d, at 106. The California Assembly and Senate responded by requesting the committee on jury instructions of the Los Angeles Superior Court "to study alternatives to the definition of 'reasonable doubt' set forth in Section 1096 of the Penal Code, and to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature." Cal. Assem. Con. Res. No. 148, 1986 Cal. Stats. 5634. The committee recommended that the legislature retain the statutory definition unmodified, see Alternative Definitions of Reasonable Doubt: A Report of the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions—Criminal to the California Legislature (May 22, 1987), and § 1096 has not been changed.
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