Kendell Shawn Vanbelle A/K/A Shawn Vanbelle v. State

DISSENTING OPINION

LEE ANN DAUPHINOT, Justice.

I write separately in dissent, not because I believe that the majority does not follow the spirit of current case law, but because I believe that since the decision in Almanza v. State, 1 jury charges in criminal cases have grown increasingly irrelevant. Our courts have held that an error in the application paragraph that instructs the jurors on the elements they must find in order to convict is harmless if the abstract definitional paragraph is correct. 2 Courts have also held that an error in the abstract definitional portion of the jury charge…