State v. Jordan

Summary

The Court held that a trial court's failure to ask, upon request, whether prospective jurors could follow an instruction concerning a defendant's right not to testify is trial error subject to harmless-error review, rather than structural error. The Court further held that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because Jordan testified voluntarily, the question could not have affected jury consideration of a nonexistent instruction, and her testimony did not contribute to the guilty verdict on the assault charge involving Harried. The Court therefore reversed the intermediate appellate court's judgment.