# State v. Dozah

> Court of Appeals of Utah · January 22, 2016 · 368 P.3d 863

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9823604

## Case

- **Full name:** STATE of Utah, Appellee, v. Max Edward DOZAH, Appellant
- **Court:** Court of Appeals of Utah
- **Decided:** January 22, 2016
- **Citations:** 368 P.3d 863; 2016 UT App 13; 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 9; 2016 WL 299071
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Voros
- **Judges:** Christiansen, Pearce, Voros
- **Cited by:** 20 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/9823604

## Opinion text

VOROS, Judge
(concurrmg in part and concurring in the result in part):
{40 I concur in the majority - opinion except as to Part II, in which I concur only in the result In my opinion, the trial court's supplemental instruction violated the principles adopted by our supreme court in State v. Couch, 635 P.2d 89 (Utah 1981).
{41 Directing a jury back to a correct elements instruction is almost always a prudent course. But here, the jury's note suggested the possibility that at least one juror was contemplating voting to convict on a legal theory that all now agree would constitute an error of law. In such a cireumstance, merely directing the jury back to the elements instruction is, in my view, insufficient and therefore erroneous. The potential harm of allowing.a juror to convict on a demonstrably flawed legal theory so outweighs the burden on court and counsel of giving a brief supplemental instruction that I would require the instruction. 'That is, as I *873 understand it, the principle informing the supreme court's opinion in Couch,
42 For reasons explained in the majority opinion, I agree that the error here infected both convictions.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9823604. Public record. Not legal advice.