State v. Wolfley

Citations

• 75 Kan. 406
• 89 P. 1046
• 1907 Kan. LEXIS 74

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Larceny. — Brands on Cattle — Evidence of Ownership. In a prosecution for larceny the jury have a right to consider the fact that the cattle alleged to have been stolen bore the brand of the complaining witness as some evidence that they were owned by him.</p> <p>2. Instructions — Consideration of Defendant’s Testimony — Burden of Proof. A conviction upon a charge of larceny will not be reversed because in referring to the defendant’s story the court instructs the jury that they are to determine from all the facts and circumstances whether his defense is probably true, where. in the same instruction they are also told that the defendant is not required to prove his innocence and that if after the consideration of all the evidence in the case, including the defendant’s explanation, there exists a reasonable doubt of his guilt he must be acquitted.</p> <p>3. -r- Reasonable Doubt. It is not error to include in an instruction defining the term “reasonable doubt” the statement that it is a doubt for which there is some good reason arising out of the evidence or lack of evidence — a doubt for which the jury are able to find a reason in the evidence or lack of evidence.</p> <p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Criminal Law — -Instructions—Circumstantial Evidence. A conviction upon a criminal charge will not be reversed because of an omission of the trial' court to instruct the jury that the facts relied upon to justify a conviction upon circumstantial evidence must be consistent with each other, where' no separate’ request was made with regard to that proposition, and where the court gave an instruction regarding the effect of circumstantial evidence which was otherwise sufficient.</p> <p>2. -Presumption of Innocence — Reasonable Doubt — Instruction. An instruction that “the law presumes and you [the jury] must presume him [the defendant] to be innocent of the crime with which he is charged . . . until he is proved guilty beyond a reasona