State v. Evans
| Decision Date | 28 February 1874 |
| Citation | 55 Mo. 460 |
| Parties | THE STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent, v. HENRY EVANS, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Buchanan Circuit Court.
Masterson, Thomas & Tyler, for Appellant.
The admissions of Conner were admissible in evidence as part of the res gestæ.
H. Clay Ewing, Att'y Gen'l, for Respondent
The defendant was indicted for and convicted of arson in the second degree (1 Wagn. Stat., 453, § 3), in setting fire to and burning the office of John C. Bender, which was situated adjoining to the inhabited dwelling house of John A. Lewis.
The indictment is not liable to any valid objection. The offense set out is charged in the language of the statute, and that is sufficient.
When the jury was being impaneled, the defendant proposed asking the following question of the jurors: The court refused to allow this question to be put to the jurors, and the defendant excepted. There can be no question as to the correctness of the decision. If they had not formed or expressed an opinion concerning any material fact in controversy, which would influence their judgment, and they were not related to the party, then they were unexceptionable and competent to serve upon the jury. An attempt was made by the defendant to introduce the admissions of a third party, tending to show that it was that party that committed the crime and not the defendant. This evidence the court ruled out, and it was clearly right in doing so. The evidence was mere hearsay, and under no circumstances was it admissible.
The only objection to the instructions is in the manner of the court's defining what constituted a reasonable doubt. The defendant asked a declaration that, if from all the evidence in the case the jury have a reasonable doubt of defendant's guilt, they will acquit him. This declaration the court refused; but gave an instruction telling the jury, that, if from all the evidence in the case they have a reasonable doubt of defendant's guilt, they will acquit. But such a doubt, to authorize an acquittal, must be a real and substantial doubt of defendant's guilt, and not a mere possibility of his innocence. This instruction given by the court has been so often approved in the practice of this State, and its correctness is so...
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