Brasher v. State
| Decision Date | 20 April 1926 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 146 |
| Parties | BRASHER v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Shelby County; E.S. Lyman, Judge.
A.P Brasher was convicted of possessing a still, and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.
Leeper Wallace & Saxon, of Columbiana, for appellant.
Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., and Robt. G Tate, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The controlling principles of law governing this case necessitates a reversal of the judgment of conviction from which this appeal was taken.
In this case the court instructed the jury orally as follows:
No such written charge is shown by the record, and to thus charge a jury orally in a criminal case is error; the charge being an invasion of the province of the jury, and clearly a charge upon the effect of the testimony which the court was without authority to give. Edmunds v. State, 16 Ala.App 182, 76 So. 466. Under the statute, the court may state to the jury the law of the case, and may also state the evidence when the same is disputed, but shall not charge upon the effect of the testimony, unless required to do so by one of the parties. But, pretermitting the fact that the charge was not in writing, if this charge had been specially requested in writing by the state, in this case, it would likewise have been error for the court to give it, as the evidence adduced merely tended to show the guilt of the defendant, or it may have afforded an inference only of his guilt. It should have been submitted to the jury, for the jury might have believed all this evidence to be true, and yet not have found its tendency to establish the fact in issue sufficiently strong to warrant them in returning a verdict of guilt. The charge given took away from the jury the right to weigh the evidence and to say that the state by this evidence did not meet the burden of proof resting upon it, and that it was not sufficient to overcome the presumption of innocence with which the defendant entered upon the trial of this case. This presumption of innocence is evidentiary, and in every criminal...
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Harris v. State, 8 Div. 582
...for the jury even if the evidence is without dispute." Roberts v. State, 36 Ala.App. 491, 494, 59 So.2d 821 (1952); Brasher v. State, 21 Ala.App. 360, 108 So. 266 (1926). The defense in this case was alibi. Where there is evidence of an alibi offered by the defendant, the trial court may no......
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Thrash v. State, 7 Div. 582.
...App. 182, 76 So. 466; Estes v. State, 18 Ala. App. 606, 93 So. 217; Livingstone v. State, 19 Ala. App. 474, 98 So. 138; Brasher v. State, 21 Ala. App. 360, 108 So. 266. This portion of the oral charge dealt specifically with substantive offense charged in the indictment, and was invasive of......
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Smith v. Odell
... ... R.M ... Montgomery, of Birmingham, for appellee ... RICE, ... Plaintiffs ... employed the common counts to state their case, declaring, ... respectively, upon an account, an account stated, for ... merchandise, etc., sold, for money paid by plaintiffs' ... ...
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Bertrand v. State, 1 Div. 127
...charge must be requested in writing. Section 273, Title 7, Code. See also, Thrash v. State, 23 Ala.App. 433, 126 So. 606; Brasher v. State, 21 Ala.App. 360, 108 So. 266. The court's action was reversible error. Appellant also argues that the court erred in refusing requested charge 5, which......