A Treatise on the Law of Court Practice and Procedure, Civil and Criminal, and Procedure Preliminary and Incidental Thereto Under the Code (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ...In all cases where a party stands charged with a crime, his innocence is presumed, an_d the burden of proof is, therefore, necessarily upon the prosecutor, unless a different rule is expressly provided by statute." And this is, as we have seen, the rule of the code. The State must necessarily present a prima facie case against the defendant; and indeed under a plea of not guilty the State must prove all of the essential elements of the offense charged. The presumption can only be overcome by full proof of guilt, such as excludes all reasonable doubt.f Says an eminent author: " Vhatever the defendant brings forward in denial of the allegations, or of the proofs which the prosecution has adduced, the burden still remains on the State, and it never shifts to him. "' But the rule is well settled that when the defendant sets up a plea that a homicide was justifiable, the burden of proving that it was excusable on the ground of self-defense rests on the defendant, and must be established by a preponderance of the evidence.' But so long as the defendant relies upon no separate, distinct and independent fact, 'but confines his defense to the original transaction on which the charge is founded, with its accompanying circumstances. the burden of proof, or weight of evidence, never shifts, but remains with the State throughout the whole case.' The burden of proof is not changed, therefore, when the defendant undertakes to prove an alibi, ' or that a homicide was accidental." But as the defense of insanity," or self-defense," has the effect of rebutting the criminal intent, the burden of proving such independent defenses rests on the defendant, which he must do by a preponderance of evidence...