District of Columbia Court of Appeals August 15, 1994, 93-CF-107 (Butler v. United States)

FERREN, Associate Judg>;

A jury convicted appellant oi distributing cocaine.

See

D.C.Code § 33-541(&)(1) (1998). Appellant challenges his conviction primarily on the ground that the trial court’s deliberate modifications of the standard “reasonable doubt” instruction — incluchwg omission of one of the principal definitional sentences— amounted to constitutional error requiring reversal.