United States v. Thomas Littlefield

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge (Concurring).

Because I am bound by this court’s recent decision in United States v. Olmstead, 832 F.2d 642 ((1st Cir.1987), I concur. Had this panel not been prematurely preempted by Olmstead, I would have dissented because I am of the opinion that the failure to grant an instruction explaining the term “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” is an error of constitutional dimension, striking at the very heart of the presumption of innocence. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 363, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). The Olmstead conclusion is particularly unpalatable when we…