13 Neb. 236 | Neb. | 1882
The plaintiff in error was convicted of robbery in the district court of Burt couuty and sentenced to imprisonment iu the penitentiary for three years. He now prosecutes a writ of error to this court. The only error relied upon is that there is not sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict.
It appears from the testimony that on the 3d day of November, 1879, one John Teeters, a resident of Monroe county, Iowa, came to Tekamah to pay taxes upon certain property owned by him in Burt county. At that time he had about $100.00 in paper money. On the same day he went from Tekamah to Herman, and from there to Blair, returning to Tekamah on the 6th of that month. On his return to Tekamah he went to a saloon and became intoxicated. While at the saloon he met Walbridge and seems to have invited him to drink with him. Teeters was proposing to start a meat market in Tekamah, and Walbridge informed him that he had the necessary implements and
. The law presumes everyone to be innocent. And this presumption is to be considered by the jury as evidence to the benefit of which the party accused of crime is entitled. And when a criminal charge is to be proved by circumstantial evidence the proof ought not only to be consistent
In sec. 29, vol. 3, the same author thus states the rule as to the degree of proof: “It is therefore a rule of criminal law that the guilt of the accused must be fully proved. Neither a mere preponderance of evidence nor any weight of preponderant evidence is sufficient for the purpose unless it generate full belief of the fact to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt.” To warrant a conviction of crime on circumstantial evidence, each fact necessary to the conclusion sought to be established must- be proved by competent evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. And the circumstances, when taken together, must be of so conclusive a nature as to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused and no other person committed the offense. Sumner v. The State, 5 Blackf., 579. Com. v. Webster 5, Cushing, 296. A jury can convict only on facts proved, and not on mere suspicion of guilt, however strong it may be. The law fixes the standard by Avhich guilt is to be determined — that the proof shall exclude reasonable doubt of the prisoner’s guilt. ' The credibility of the witnesses must necessarily be left to the jury, and they must determine from the testimony, under the instructions of the court, Avhether or not the accused is guilty. But if there is a failure to prove a material fact the jury cannot substitute their own judgment, or belief, or suspicion, for such fact and find a verdict of guilty. If they do so the court has a plain duty to perform — to set the verdict aside. In nothing is the state more interested than in the protection of the innocent, and as courts deal only with tangible evidence every person is innocent whom the proof fails to show is guilty. Where there is a failure of proof upon a material point the humblest citizen may confidently appeal to the courts to set aside a verdict that should not have been rendered. If this was not so, constitutional rights and guarantees would amount to but little, while erroneous
Reversed and remanded.
I am of the opinion that the evidence submitted to the jury was sufficient to sustain the verdict of guilty, and therefore dissent from the conclusion reached by the majority of the court.