South v. People

Citations

• 98 Ill. 261
• 1881 Ill. LEXIS 250

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal law—burden of proof—doubt as to guilt. An instruction on the trial of one for murder, that “it is-a rule of law that the burr den of proving the defendant guilty is upon the prosecution, and if the jury are unsatisfied from the nature and character of the evidence, or from a want of evidence, as to whether the deceased came to his death at the hands of the defendant, or from other cause, or from other hands, they will find the defendant not guilty,” announces a correct principle of law, and if applicable to the facts in evidence, upon which a doubt might reasonably arise in the minds of the jury, as to the truth of the testimony implicating the accused, or whether he was not at another place when the homicide, if any, took place, it is error to refuse it.</p> <p>2. Same—confession uncorroborated. Where the evidence, on a trial of one charged with murder, fails to establish the corpus delicti, the jury can not convict the accused upon his mere confession, made out of court, uncorroborated by any facts and circumstances showing the truth of such confession, but it is otherwise when the corpus delicti is proved by other evidence in the case. ,</p>