People v. Smith

Citations

• 106 Cal. 73
• 39 P. 40
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 571

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—■ Homicide—Conviction upon Circumstantial Evidence.—A defendant may be convicted of murder upon circumstantial evidence, where the circumstances, taken together, are sufficient to uphold the verdict, and to stamp the defendant as the perpetrator of the murder.</p> <p>Id.—Chain op Circumstances — Independent Facts — Reasonable Doubt.—Where a defendant is accused of murder, and independent facts and circumstances are relied upon to identify the accused as the person committing the offense charged, each material fact or circumstance necessary to complete the chain or series of independent facts tending to establish the guilt, must be established to a moral certainty and beyond a reasonable doubt; and, if the jury have a reasonable doubt upon any single essential fact relied npon to complete the chain of circumstances, they cannot convict the defendant as long as they entertain such doubt.</p> <p>Id.—Modification of Instruction—Perspicuity.—An instruction properly embodying the law relating to circumstantial evidence shonld not, at the request of the defendant, be modified so as to involve and cloud it, or detract from its perspicuity.</p> <p>Id.—Expert Evidence — Character of Blood — Refusal to Caution Jury.—It is not error to refuse to instruct the jury that they should exercise caution in accepting the opinion of an expert as a fact proven in the case, when there was nothing apparent in the character of the expert witness, or his relation to the parties, or his manner of testifying, calculated to arouse suspicion as to his capacity, skill, or impartiality, and his testimony related to well-established, scientific facts as to the character of human blood, and as to measurements of corpuscles, indicating that the blood found upon the clothing of the defendant was that of a human being.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence — Articles Found in Possession of Defendant — Res G-esmd.—Articles found in the possession of the defendant at the time of his arrest, when properly i