Cite as: 511 U. S. 1 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
such a doubt must be. We therefore do not think it reasonably likely that the jury would have interpreted this instruction to indicate that the doubt must be anything other than a reasonable one.
B
Victor also challenges the "moral certainty" portion of the instruction. In another case involving an identical instruction, the Nebraska Supreme Court distinguished Cage as follows: "[U]nder the Cage instruction a juror is to vote for conviction unless convinced to a moral certainty that there exists a reasonable doubt, whereas under the questioned instruction a juror is to vote for acquittal unless convinced to a moral certainty that no reasonable doubt exists." State v. Morley, 239 Neb. 141, 155, 474 N. W. 2d 660, 670 (1991); see also 242 Neb., at 310-311, 494 N. W. 2d, at 569 (relying on Morley). We disagree with this reading of Cage. The moral certainty to which the Cage instruction referred was clearly related to the defendant's guilt; the problem in Cage was that the rest of the instruction provided insufficient context to lend meaning to the phrase. But the Nebraska instruction is not similarly deficient.
Instructing the jurors that they must have an abiding conviction of the defendant's guilt does much to alleviate any concerns that the phrase "moral certainty" might be misunderstood in the abstract. See supra, at 14-15. The instruction also equated a doubt sufficient to preclude moral certainty with a doubt that would cause a reasonable person to hesitate to act. In other words, a juror morally certain of a fact would not hesitate to rely on it; and such a fact can fairly be said to have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Cf. Hopt v. Utah, supra, at 439-440. The jurors were told that they must be convinced of Victor's guilt "after full, fair, and impartial consideration of all the evidence." Victor App. 11. The judge also told them: "In determining any questions of fact presented in this case, you should be governed solely by the evidence introduced before you. You should not indulge
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