[DOWNLOAD] "State v. Espelin" by Supreme Court of Montana * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

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eBook details

• Title: State v. Espelin
• Author : Supreme Court of Montana
• Release Date : January 16, 1938
• Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 59 KB

Description

Criminal Law ? Arson ? Circumstantial Evidence ? Sufficiency ? Instructions ? Credibility of Witnesses ? Weight and Effect of Evidence for Jury. Criminal Law ? Evidence of Defendant ? Credibility ? Proper Refusal of Offered Instruction. 1. In a prosecution for arson in which appellant contended that but for certain statements made by him to officers upon his arrest and others, the state had not made out a case against him, refusal of an instruction in effect declaring that any portions of such statements, if not apparently improbable or untrue, were as much entitled to consideration by the jury as any other part thereof, held not prejudicial, where appellants explanations of the statements were clearly incredible and - Page 232 the jury founded its verdict of guilty upon a strong chain of circumstantial evidence which his own testimony tended to support. Same ? Law Fully Covered in Instructions Given ? Refusal of Others not Error. 2. Where the courts instructions to the jury in a criminal case covered every conceivable phase of the crime charged against defendant, and correctly stated the law when considered as a whole, error in refusing others does not exist. Same ? Circumstantial Evidence ? When Sufficient. 3. While in a prosecution for crime (arson) the evidence, entirely circumstantial in character, claimed to be insufficient to support a verdict of guilty, may not be as convincing as it might be, yet the incriminating circumstances proven may make out a case for the jury. Same ? Evidence ? Weight and Effect Within Province of Jury. 4. Jurors, as triers of the facts, are the sole judges of the credibility of witnesses, their power in that respect, however, not to be exercised arbitrarily but in subordination to the rules of evidence, and the weight and effect of the testimony given is a matter wholly within their province. Same ? When Verdict may not be Set Aside on Appeal. 5. Where the jury has rendered a verdict of guilty of the crime charged against defendant, after hearing the witnesses and observing their demeanor upon the witness-stand, it is not within the power of the supreme court to set it aside unless it is clearly obvious that there has been a miscarriage of justice. Arson ? Conviction on Circumstantial Evidence ? Evidence Held Sufficient. 6. Evidence in a prosecution for arson, wholly circumstantial, showing that defendant, a man seventy years of age, and living alone in a country district, accused of burning an uninhabited dwelling some distance away from his own habitation, apparently rode his horse, the tracks of which showed a broken place in one hoof, near the dwelling and there tied him to a post; that the tracks of a person wearing a pair of shoes of the kind found in his home were found near the place of the fire; that a newspaper wrapper containing his name was found there, as was also an empty syrup can traced to his house where a jar of distillate was discovered; that the fire had apparently been set with the aid of a quantity of twine fashioned into a small rope, a counterpart of which was found at defendants abode, steeped in the jar of distillate, etc., held sufficient to warrant a verdict of guilty, although there was a total absence of motive for the crime.

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