State v. Burchfield

In State v. Thompson (1987), 33 Ohio St.3d 1, 13, 514 N.E.2d 407, 419, this court reiterated its earlier holding in State v. Price (1979), 60 Ohio St.2d 136, 14 O.O.3d 379, 398 N.E.2d 772, at paragraph four of the syllabus, that “a jury instruction ‘ * * * must be viewed in the context of the overall charge, * * * ’ rather than in isolation.” The appellate court below relied on Thompson, supra, in finding that the trial court’s instructions, when viewed as a whole, correctly instructed the jury as to the requirement of purpose in a murder charge.

In Jacks, supra, the Eighth Appellate District…