Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: reasonable doubt

Our standard criminal jury instructions (numbers 1.9 and 3.2) define reasonable doubt to juries this way:

"A reasonable doubt is a fair, honest doubt growing out of the evidence or lack of evidence. It is not merely an imaginary or possible doubt, but a doubt based on reason and common sense. A reasonable doubt is just that -- a doubt that is reasonable, after a careful and considered examination of the facts and circumstances of this case."

Some judges may give a slightly different spin, but this is pretty much it. The doubt cannot be some pie-in-the-sky possibility ... something that's unreasonable. It has to be something that's reasonable arising from evidence in the case, or the lack of evidence in the case.