opinion: CALIFORNIA et al. v. ROY
  No. 95-2025.
  Decided November 4, 1996
  Per Curiam.
  A California court convicted respondent Kenneth Roy of the robbery and first-degree murder of Archie Mannix. The State’s theory, insofar as is relevant here, was that Roy, coming to the aid of a confederate who was trying to rob Mannix, helped the confederate kill Mannix. The trial judge gave the jury an instruction that permitted it to convict Roy of first-degree murder as long as it concluded that (among other things) Roy, “with knowledge of” the confederate’s “unlawful purpose” (robbery), had helped the confederate, i. e., had “aid[ed],” “promote[d],” “encourage[d],” or “instigate[d]” by “act or advice ... the commission of” the confederate’s crime. The California Supreme Court later held in People v. Beeman, 35 Cal. 3d 547, 561, 674 P. 2d 1318, 1326 (1984), that an identical instruction was erroneous because of what it did not say, namely, that state law also required the jury to find that Roy had the “knowledge [and] intent or purpose of committing, encouraging, or facilitating” the confederate’s crime. Id., at 561, 674 P. 2d, at 1326 (emphasis added). Despite this error, the California Court of Appeal affirmed Roy’s conviction because it found the error “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” See Chapman v. California, 386 U. S. 18, 24 (1967). The California Supreme Court denied postconviction relief.
  Subsequently Roy, pointing to the same instructional error, asked a Federal District Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus. The District Court denied the request because, in its view, the error was harmless. Indeed, the District Court wrote that no rational juror could have found that Roy knew the confederate’s purpose and helped him but also found that Roy did not intend to help him. A divided Ninth Circuit panel affirmed. Roy v. Gomez, 55 F. 3d 1483 (1995).
  The Ninth Circuit later heard the case en bane and reversed the District Court. It held that the instructional error was not harmless. 81 F. 3d 863 (1996). In doing so, the majority applied a special “harmless error” standard, which it believed combined aspects of our decisions in Carella v. California, 491 U. S. 263 (1989) (per curiam), and O’Neal v. McAninch, 513 U. S. 432 (1995). The Ninth Circuit described the standard as follows:
  “[T]he omission is harmless only if review of the facts found by the jury establishes that the jury necessarily found the omitted element.” 81 F. 3d, at 867 (emphasis in original).
  As we understand that statement in context, it meant:
  “[T]he omission [of the ‘intent’ part of the instruction] is harmless only if review of the facts found by the jury [namely, assistance and knowledge] establishes that the jury necessarily found the omitted element [namely, ‘intent’].” Ibid.
  The State of California, seeking certiorari, argues that this definition of “harmless error” is far too strict and that this Court’s decisions require application of a significantly less strict “harmless error” standard in cases on collateral review. See Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U. S. 619 (1993); O’Neal, supra.
  We believe that the State, and the dissenting judges in the Ninth Circuit, are correct about the proper standard. The Ninth Circuit majority drew its special standard primarily from a concurring opinion in Carella, supra, a case that dealt with legal presumptions. The concurrence in that case set out the views of several Justices about the proper way to determine whether an error in respect to the use of a presumption was “harmless.” Subsequent to Carella, however, this Court held that a federal court reviewing a state-court determination in a habeas corpus proceeding ordinarily should apply the “harmless error” standard that the Court had previously enunciated in Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U. S. 750 (1946), namely, “whether the error ‘had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.’ ” Brecht, supra, at 637 (citing Kotteakos, supra, at 776). The Court recognized that the Kotteakos standard did not apply to “‘structural defects in the constitution of the trial mechanism, which defy analysis by “harmless-error” standards,’ ” 507 U. S., at 629, but held that the Kotteakos standard did apply to habeas review of what the Court called “trial errors,” including errors in respect to which the Constitution requires state courts to apply a stricter, Chapman-type standard of “harmless error” when they review a conviction directly. 507 U. S., at 638. In O’Neal, supra, this Court added that where a judge, in a habeas proceeding, applying this standard of harmless error, “is in grave doubt as to the harmlessness of an error,” the habeas “petitioner must win.” Id., at 437.
  The case before us is a case for application of the “harmless error” standard as enunciated in Brecht and O’Neal. This Court has written that “constitutional error” of the sort at issue in Carella is a “trial error,” not a “structural error,” and that it is subject to “harmless error” analysis. Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U. S. 279, 306-307 (1991). The state courts in this case applied harmless-error analysis of the strict variety, and they found the error “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Chapman, supra, at 24. The specific error at issue here — an error in the instruction that defined the crime — is, as the Ninth Circuit itself recognized, as easily characterized as a “misdescription of an element” of the crime, as it is characterized as an error of “omission.” 81 F. 3d, at 867, n. 4. No one claims that the error at issue here is of the “structural” sort that “‘def[ies] analysis by “harmless error” standards.’” Brecht, supra, at 629. The analysis advanced by the Ninth Circuit, while certainly consistent with the concurring opinion in Carella, does not, in our view, overcome the holding of Brecht, followed in O’Neal, that for reasons related to the special function of habeas courts, those courts must review such error (error that may require strict review of the Chapman-type on direct appeal) under the Kotteakos standard. Thus, we are convinced that the “harmless error” standards enunciated in Brecht and O’Neal should apply to the “trial error” before us as enunciated in those opinions and without the Ninth Circuit’s modification.
  For these reasons, we grant respondent’s motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari, vacate the Ninth Circuit’s determination, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
  It is so ordered.
choices: involuntary confession habeas corpus plea bargaining: the constitutionality of and/or the circumstances of its exercise retroactivity (of newly announced or newly enacted constitutional or statutory rights) search and seizure (other than as pertains to vehicles or Crime Control Act) search and seizure, vehicles search and seizure, Crime Control Act contempt of court or congress self-incrimination (other than as pertains to Miranda or immunity from prosecution) Miranda warnings self-incrimination, immunity from prosecution right to counsel (cf. indigents appointment of counsel or inadequate representation) cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty (cf. extra legal jury influence, death penalty) cruel and unusual punishment, non-death penalty (cf. liability, civil rights acts) line-up discovery and inspection (in the context of criminal litigation only, otherwise Freedom of Information Act and related federal or state statutes or regulations) double jeopardy ex post facto (state) extra-legal jury influences: miscellaneous extra-legal jury influences: prejudicial statements or evidence extra-legal jury influences: contact with jurors outside courtroom extra-legal jury influences: jury instructions (not necessarily in criminal cases) extra-legal jury influences: voir dire (not necessarily a criminal case) extra-legal jury influences: prison garb or appearance extra-legal jury influences: jurors and death penalty (cf. cruel and unusual punishment) extra-legal jury influences: pretrial publicity confrontation (right to confront accuser, call and cross-examine witnesses) subconstitutional fair procedure: confession of error subconstitutional fair procedure: conspiracy (cf. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: conspiracy) subconstitutional fair procedure: entrapment subconstitutional fair procedure: exhaustion of remedies subconstitutional fair procedure: fugitive from justice subconstitutional fair procedure: presentation, admissibility, or sufficiency of evidence (not necessarily a criminal case) subconstitutional fair procedure: stay of execution subconstitutional fair procedure: timeliness subconstitutional fair procedure: miscellaneous Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure statutory construction of criminal laws: assault statutory construction of criminal laws: bank robbery statutory construction of criminal laws: conspiracy (cf. subconstitutional fair procedure: conspiracy) statutory construction of criminal laws: escape from custody statutory construction of criminal laws: false statements (cf. statutory construction of criminal laws: perjury) statutory construction of criminal laws: financial (other than in fraud or internal revenue) statutory construction of criminal laws: firearms statutory construction of criminal laws: fraud statutory construction of criminal laws: gambling statutory construction of criminal laws: Hobbs Act; i.e., 18 USC 1951 statutory construction of criminal laws: immigration (cf. immigration and naturalization) statutory construction of criminal laws: internal revenue (cf. Federal Taxation) statutory construction of criminal laws: Mann Act and related statutes statutory construction of criminal laws: narcotics includes regulation and prohibition of alcohol statutory construction of criminal laws: obstruction of justice statutory construction of criminal laws: perjury (other than as pertains to statutory construction of criminal laws: false statements) statutory construction of criminal laws: Travel Act, 18 USC 1952 statutory construction of criminal laws: war crimes statutory construction of criminal laws: sentencing guidelines statutory construction of criminal laws: miscellaneous jury trial (right to, as distinct from extra-legal jury influences) speedy trial miscellaneous criminal procedure (cf. due process, prisoners' rights, comity: criminal procedure)