145 Pa. 289 | Allegheny Cty. Ct. Oy. Term. | 1891
Opinion,
As stated in appellant’s history of the case, “ the defence upon which his counsel chiefly relied was insanity.” In view of that fact, several points for charge, bearing more or less directly on the subject, were submitted. One of these is “ that under the plea of not guilty, the defendant has a right to show, by way of defence, the insanity of the defendant at the time of the killing, and that the jury must pass upon the question of the defendant’s sanity or insanity, and if they find him insane at the time of the killing, acquit him by reason of insanity.” This point was rightly affirmed without any qualification, and, of course, it is not assigned for error. Other points
Without questioning the general correctness of what was said, in that connection, as to the kind of insanity that constitutes a defence to an act, which would otherwise be punishable as criminal, we think the degree of proof necessary to sustain such a defence was too strongly stated in saying “ it must be clearly proved.” This was imposing on the defendant a greater burden than the law requires.
In harmony with the humane principle of the criminal law, that every person accused of crime shall be presumed innocent until his guilt is clearly established, it is incumbent on the commonwealth to prove, not only to the satisfaction of the jury but beyond a reasonable doubt, the presence of every ingredient necessary to constitute the crime charged in the indictment. That burden, as was said in Turner v. Commonwealth, 86 Pa. 54, never shifts, but rests on the prosecution throughout; so that, in all cases, a conviction can be had only after the jury has been convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, of the defendant’s guilt. It necessarily follows that, if the evidence is such as to leave a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury as to the existence of any necessary ingredient of the crime charged, they should give the defendant the benefit of that doubt. But presumptions of fact sometimes stand for full and express proof until the contrary is shown. For example, inasmuch as sanity is the normal condition of man, every one is presumed to be sane, and that presumption holds good, and is the full equivalent of express proof, until it is successfully rebutted. When insanity of the defendant is set up as a defence, it is incumbent on him to rebut the ordinary presumption of sanity, and show, not beyond a reasonable doubt, nor eithér clearly or conclusively, but by fairly preponderating evidence, such as is ordinarily required to prove a fact in civil issues, that he was insane at the time of committing the alleged crime. In Lynch v. Commonwealth, 77 Pa. 205, 213, the trial judge refused to charge “ that, if the jury have a reasonable doubt as to the condition of the defendant’s mind at the time the act was done, he is entitled to the benefit of such doubt, and they cannot convict; ” and, for further answer to the point, said: “ The law of this state is that where the killing is admitted, and in
It is true that the learned judge, in another part of his somewhat lengthy charge, said to the jury: “You have to be satisfied of his insanity by the preponderance of the evidence. He has to establish, in other words, his insanity, not by the rule of a reasonable doubt, but by the testimony, what the preponderance of the evidence shows.” But, with two measures of proof before them, one substantially correct and the other erroneous, how is it possible for us to determine which the jury adopted? There should be nothing left to conjecture, especially in a capital ease. It is enough to know that the jury may have been misled by erroneous instructions on a point vital to the defence.
Judgment reversed, and a venire facias de novo awarded.