State v. Diaz

In State v. Diaz, 317 N.C. 545, 346 S.E.2d 488 (1986), our Supreme Court reviewed the trial court's instructions to the jury in a case in which defendant was charged with a violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. 90-95(h)(1). The Court in Diaz found that 90-95(h)(1) punishes anyone who "sells, manufactures, delivers, transports, or possesses more than 50 pounds of marijuana . . . ." Diaz, 317 N.C. at 547, 346 S.E.2d at 490; N.C. Gen. Stat. 90- 95(h)(l) (Cum. Supp. 1983). In its instruction, the trial court used the disjunctive "or" to instruct the jury to return a verdict of guilty if it found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant "knowingly possessed or knowingly transported" the requisite amount of marijuana. Diaz, 317 N.C. at 554, 346 S.E.2d at 494. The Supreme Court found that the trial court committed reversible error in its ambiguous instruction, because not one but two possible crimes were submitted to the jury in a single issue. The erroneous instruction prevented the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict, and defendant was granted a new trial. Diaz, 317 N.C. at 553-54, 346 S.E.2d at 494.