State v. Donahue

• Decision Date: 02 June 1926
• Citation: 133 A. 433
• Parties: STATE v. DONAHUE.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

133 A. 433

STATE

v. DONAHUE.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

June 2, 1926.

Exceptions from Superior Court, Cumberland County, at Law.

Sarah B. Donahue was convicted of an offense, and she brings exceptions. Exceptions overruled.

Argued before WILSON, C. J., and PHILBROOK, DUNN, MORRILL, STURGIS, and BAS SETT, JJ.

Ralph M. Ingalls, Co. Atty., and Franz U. Burkett, both of Portland, for the State.

Samuel L. Bates and John J. Devine, both of Portland, for respondent.

PER CURIAM. When the evidence in support of a criminal prosecution is so defective or so weak that a verdict based upon it cannot be sustained, the jury should be instructed to return a verdict of not guilty, and a refusal to so instruct them would be a valid ground of exception.

We do not, however, regard the case before us as one in which such an instruction could properly be given. If the testimony of the state's witnesses was believed, it was sufficient to establish the guilt of the respondent beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence offered by the respondent and her daughter in direct denial of the state's charges and contradiction of the state's witnesses raised an issue of fact which it was the duty of the court to submit to the jury. The exception to the refusal of the court to instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty must therefore be overruled.

Exceptions overruled.

Judgment for the states.