# State v. LeBlanc

> Arizona Supreme Court · September 5, 1996 · 186 Ariz. 437

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9564772

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Larry Francis LeBLANC, Appellant
- **Court:** Arizona Supreme Court
- **Decided:** September 5, 1996
- **Citations:** 186 Ariz. 437; 224 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 47; 924 P.2d 441; 1996 Ariz. LEXIS 99
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Moeller
- **Judges:** Zlaket, Moeller, Martone, Feldman
- **Cited by:** 93 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9564772

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that a “jury may deliberate on a lesser offense if it either (1) finds the defendant not guilty on the greater charge, or (2) after reasonable efforts cannot agree whether to acquit or convict on that charge,” and directing trial courts to give this “‘reasonable effort…
- concluding the trial court’s failure to give the jury a written copy of a jury instruction was harmless error
- stating that jurors are presumed to follow the court’s instructions
- stating that jurors are presumed to follow a court’s instructions
- explaining that “[j]urors are presumed to follow instructions.”

## Opinion text

MOELLER, Justice,
specially concurring.
In State v. Staatz, 159 Ariz. 411, 416 , 768 P.2d 143, 148 (1988), we were asked to revisit the then-recent Wussler case. I joined the majority of the court in declining to do so. Developments since that time, which include increased experience with the Wussler instruction and further development of arguments in favor of a “reasonable efforts” instruction, see, e.g., State v. Sawyer, 227 Conn. 566 , 630 A.2d 1064, 1075-81 (1993) (Katz, J., dissenting), have convinced me that this is now an appropriate time and case in which to revisit Wussler. Having done so, I agree with the majority that the “reasonable efforts” instruction is preferable to the Wussler instruction. Because, as the majority notes, we deal here with a matter of court procedure and practice, I feel free to join the majority in holding that the Wussler approach should give way to a “reasonable efforts” approach prospectively. See State v. Salazar, 173 Ariz. 399, 417 , 844 P.2d 566, 584 (1992) , cert. denied, 509 U.S. 912 , 113 S.Ct. 3017 , 125 L.Ed.2d 707 (1993).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9564772. Public record. Not legal advice.