History
  • No items yet
midpage
Kelly v. State
112 Miss. 245
Miss.
1916
Check Treatment
Potter, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellant in this ease was indicted, tried, and convicted at the March term, 1916, of-the circuit court of Clarke county on a charge of forgery, and was sentenced to serve four years in the penitentiary. In the trial of this case the court granted the following-instruction for the state:

“The court instructs the jury for the state that by a reasonable doubt is meant not a mere- speculative-doubt or vague conjecture,- mere supposition, or-*248hypothesis, but such a doubt as reasonably arises out of tbe testimony; a doubt for which a reason can be given. ’ ’

This instruction is practically tbe same instruction as has been many times held erroneous by this court. Besides, being generally objectionable in attempting to define a reasonable doubt, tbe instruction is erroneous in declaring that a reasonable doubt must arise out of tbe evidence when it may arise also from tbe want of evidence. Hale v. State, 72 Miss. 140, 16 So. 387; Knight v. State, 74 Miss. 140, 20 So. 860.

Reversed and remanded.

Case Details

Case Name: Kelly v. State
Court Name: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date Published: Oct 15, 1916
Citation: 112 Miss. 245
Court Abbreviation: Miss.
AI-generated responses must be verified and are not legal advice.
Your Notebook is empty. To add cases, bookmark them from your search, or select Add Cases to extract citations from a PDF or a block of text.