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251.4 Good Character Of Defendant

    251.4.1 Good Character Of Defendant: Miscellaneous Issues

    251.4.1.1 Character Evidence: Factors To Consider
    251.4.1.2 Distinction Between Character And Reputation Evidence
    251.4.1.3 Good Character Of Defendant: Federal Model Instructions

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    See FORECITE National™ 25.13.8 [Reputation Evidence: Factors To Consider].

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RATIONALE: Without an explanatory instruction, the jury may not understand the distinction between character and reputation.

POINTS AND AUTHORITIES: The words "reputation" and "character" are not synonymous and different rules may apply depending on whether the evidence presented relates to reputation or character. (See e.g., Amos v. Commonwealth (KY 1974) 516 SW2d 836, 837.) Character means disposition, not reputation, and denotes what a person is, not what he is reputed to be. (Michelson v. U.S. (1948) 335 US 469, 476 [69 SCt 213; 93 LEd 168].)

    Reputation, on the other hand, is what people believe the person to be. That is, it is an estimate held by the people with whom the person associates or comes in contact. (See e.g., Amos, 516 SW2d at 837.) Thus, "character" must be proven by reputation and not by acts. (See e.g., Hassell v. State (MS 1957) 92 So2d 194, 195 ["...character is what one is, whereas reputation is what one is thought to be"]; see also Coker v. Sundquist (TN 1998) 1998 WL 736655, slip op. p. 4.)

FEDERALIZATION: To federalize this request, click here. [Constitutional Macro 7.5].

See generally, FORECITE National™ 305.4.3 [Defendant's Character].

See generally FORECITE National™ 251.4.1.3 [Good Character Of Defendant: Federal Model Instructions].

    For purposes of your evaluation of the testimony the terms character and reputation are not synonymous.  Character is what a person is. Reputation is what people believe that person to be; that is, an estimate which the community has of a person's character. If a person's reputation for the trait of ___________________  (insert trait upon which evidence was admitted)  is good, you may, but need not, infer that the person's character with respect to such trait is good. 

    [On the other hand, if a person's reputation is bad, you may, but need not, infer that the person's character with respect to such trait is bad.]*

* Where prosecution has offered contrary evidence in rebuttal.

[See generally Michelson v. U.S. (1948) 335 US 469, 476 [69 SCt 213; 93 LEd 168]; cf. Leventhal, CHARGES TO THE JURY AND REQUESTS TO CHARGE IN A CRIMINAL CASE (NEW YORK) 4:27.50 [General Instructions -Character Evidence–Another Form] ¶ 5 & 6 (West, 1999).]

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    251.4.1.3    Good Character Of Defendant: Federal Model Instructions

See 8th Circuit Model Jury Instructions - Criminal 4.03.

See also 9th Circuit Model Jury Instructions - Criminal 4.4.

See also 11th Circuit Pattern Jury Instructions - Criminal SI 12.

See also Federal Judicial Center, Pattern Criminal Jury Instruction 51.