Padfield v. People

Citations

• 146 Ill. 660
• 35 N.E. 469
• 1893 Ill. LEXIS 926

Syllabus

<p>1. INstbttctions—requiring the jury to find from the evidence. It has been frequently held by this court that it is not necessary that all of the instructions given 'by the court shall, in express terms, confine the jury to the evidence, in their deliberations and findings.</p> <p>2. On the trial of one for burglary, the court, after defining the crime, told the jury that while the indictment could only be found on evidence, still it was not, of itself, any evidence in the case, of the defendant’s guilt of the crime, but that the prosecution must have shown to their satisfaction, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant was guilty. This was immediately followed by an instruction that a defendant charged with a criminal offense is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is established, by the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt: Held, that the failure of the court to call the attention of the jury, in the first instruction, to the evidence, could not have been injurious to the defendant.</p> <p>3. Cbiminah haw—instruction as to credibility of defendant as a witness. On a trial of one for burglary, in which the defendant testified in his own behalf, the court instructed the jury, that “under our present •statute, parties on trial for criminal offenses are permitted to testify in their own behalf in all cases, but the law makes the jury the sole judges of the credibility of the testimony, and if they should deem it untrustworthy they may disregard it altogether, except such portion of it as may be corroborated by other credible testimony:” Held, that there was no reversible error in the instruction.</p> <p>4. It is recognized by the statute which permits a defendant in a criminal case to testify, that his interest may be regarded, for the purpose of affecting his credibility. While the jury may not disregard his testimony from mere caprice, they are not bound to believe his testimony any further than it is corroborated by other credible evidence. It has been th