People v. Tarm Poi

Citations

• 86 Cal. 225
• 24 P. 998
• 1890 Cal. LEXIS 1009

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law — Homicide — Burden of Proof — Instruction — Reasonable Doubt. — Upon a trial for murder, an instruction to the jury, taken verbatim from section 1105 of the Penal Code, that the burden of proving circumstances of mitigation or justification, after proof of the homicide, is on the defendant, is not erroneous, but should, in justice, be accompanied by what the Penal Code contains on the subject of reasonable doubt.</p> <p>Id. — Alibi — Self-defense — Preponderance of Evidence — Instruction — Error without Prejudice. —When there is no question of self-defense raised upon the facts of the case, hut the defendant denies the killing, and seeks to prove that it was done by others, and that he was elsewhere at the time of the killing, an instruction implying that self-defense, grounded upon the fears of a reasonable man, must be proved by a preponderance of evidence cannot be prejudicially erroneous.</p> <p>Id. —Construing Instructions Together—Preponderance of Evidence — Reasonable Doubt as to Alibi. — When there is evidence tending to prove an alibi, a general statement in the charge, that the defendant may establish any fact essential to his defense by a mere preponderance of evidence, though objectionable by itself, is not prejudicially erroneous as applied to the defense of alibi, and could not be misleading, if the court specifically charged the jury that if, from the whole case, and a consideration of all the testimony, the evidence w^s sufficient to create a reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant was present at the time and place of the murder, he should he acquitted.</p> <p>Id.—Misconduct of Jury — View of Premises — Momentary Separation of Juror—Consent of Defendant.—Where the accused joins with the prosecution in a request that the jury be permitted to view the various premises described in the evidence, and both parties consent that one of the jurors may pass over the roofs of certain buildings, the accused cannot object to the temporary s