Ayres v. State

Citations

• 21 Tex. Ct. App. 399
• 17 S.W. 253
• 1886 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 159

Syllabus

<p>1. Charge of the Court.—Alibi is a defense which, ordinarily, is sufficiently embraced in the general charge of the court that the accused is presumed innocent until his guilt is established by competent evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. It is not, usually, necessary that the trial court should charge specially on such defense, unless requested to do so. But the rule obtains in this State that if the only defense is an alibi, the trial court should charge the law relating thereto; and if an appropriate charge upon the subject has been requested and refused, or an exception has been reserved because of the omission of a proper instruction thereon, the judgment of conviction will be reversed if the facts of the ease made, a charge upon alibi applicable.</p> <p>2. Same.—In this case the trial court charged the jury as follows: “ Where the defendant relies upon proof of an alibi, that is, proof that he was at some other place at the time the offense (if any) was committed, the burden of proof as to that fact is on the defendant, and he is required to establish it by a preponderance of evidence; but if the evidence adduced raises a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, the defendant is entitled to the benefit”of the doubt.” Held, erroneous, because alibi merely traverses the issues tendered in the indictment, and is not a special defense, nor, in its nature, an independent exculpatory fact, and, therefore, the burden of proof is not upon the accused to establish it. Under the facts of this ease, the charge was such error as to injure the rights of the accused, and such as could be mooted for the first time in the motion for new trial.</p> <p>3. Same.—Possession of Recently Stolen Property, if such possession be unexplained, is prima facie evidence of theft, such as will authorize the inference or presumption of guilt, but such inference or presumption is not a mere legal one, but is one of fact to be found by the jury. The trial court should, in no instance, ch