People v. Dilwood

Citations

• 94 Cal. 89
• 29 P. 420
• 1892 Cal. LEXIS 644

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Circumstantial Evidence — Proportion of Probabil. ities■—Instruction.—In a prosecution for a felony,'an instruction upon the subject of circumstantial evidence as follows: “As mathematical or absolute certainty is seldom to be obtained in human affairs, reason and public utility require that jurors, as well as all mankind, in forming their opinion of facts, should be regulated by the ¡superior number of probabilities on the one side or the other, whether the amount of these probabilities be expressed in words, or arguments, or by figures and numbers,” — is prejudicially erroneous, and is not cured by an instruction correctly stating the law.</p> <p>Id. —Evidence of Conduct and Declarations of Co-conspirator. —In a prosecution of one conspirator for larceny, evidence of the appearance, conduct, and declarations of his co-conspirator in the larceny on the day subsequent to the stealing is inadmissible.</p>