People v. Murray

Citations

• 86 Cal. 31
• 24 P. 802
• 1890 Cal. LEXIS 969

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Instructions as to Matter of Pact—■ Province of Jury — Constitutional Law.—In a criminal prosecution in which there is a conflict of testimony as to the facts testified to by the prosecuting witness, an instruction to the jury that the testimony of the prosecuting witness having been given, and the defendant not proving the falsity of his statements, they were bound to presume what he stated to be true, is an invasion of the province of the jury, and a violation of section 19 of article 6 of the state constitution, which provides that judges shall not charge juries with respect to matters of fact.</p> <p>Id.—Credibility of Witness not Contradicted.—Even if the instruction was intended to be confined to facts testified to by the prosecuting witness, as to which there was no contradiction, it would be an invasion of the province of the jury, as the jury are not bound to take the testimony of any witness as true; and from the manner of the prosecuting witness and the nature of his whole testimony, the jury might have disbelieved him if the defendant had not introduced any evidence at all. The whole matter is for the jury, and not for the court.</p> <p>Id. — Impeachment of Defendant. — Where a question was asked the defendant as to whether or not he was serving a term of imprisonment for petit larceny upon a certain day, simply to contradict his statement that he was working for his father on the day named, an instruction to the jury that “the defendant here admits that he has been convicted of petit larceny; as to how much credit such a man is entitled to is for you to determine,”—is a violation of the rule that it is in the exclusive province of the jury to weigh the evidence and find the facts, and of section 1847 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that the jury are the exclusive judges of the credibility of a witness.</p> <p>Id.—Weighing Evidence — Discrimination against Defense.—It is also an invasion of the province of the jury so to in