State v. Kehr

Decision Date08 January 1907
Citation110 N.W. 149,133 Iowa 35
PartiesSTATE v. KEHR.
CourtIowa Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from District Court, Linn County; J. H. Preston, Judge.

The defendant was convicted of burglary, and appeals. Reversed and remanded.Barnes & Chamberlain, for appellant.

Chas. W. Mullan, Atty. Gen., and Lawrence De Graff, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

SHERWIN, J.

The indictment charged that the defendant broke and entered a dwelling house in the nighttime with intent to commit the crime of larceny therein, and that he was at the time armed with a dangerous weapon, to wit, a revolver. The burglar was seen in the house by the owner thereof and his wife, but neither was able to identify him, and the defendant's connection with the crime was shown by circumstantial evidence.

Complaint is made of a part of the eighth instruction given by the court. It is in the following language: “In determining whether the defendant broke and entered said dwelling house, if you find from the evidence that the paper, Exhibit 1, was found near the safe in said house within a few minutes after a man was discovered at said safe, and that defendant had received said papers from the witness Davis a short time before said burglary, this fact would be a strong circumstance tending to connect the defendantwith the crime, if unexplained by evidence.” It will be observed that the court therein told the jury that proof that the exhibit had been delivered to the defendant shortly before the crime was committed, and that it was found near the safe in the house within a few minutes after the attempt to open the safe, would be a strong circumstance tending to connect the defendant with the crime, if unexplained. It was undoubtedly a strong circumstance tending in the direction indicated by the court, and for that very reason it was prejudicial error to give the instruction. It is the exclusive province of the jury to determine the weight that shall be given to proven facts and circumstances, and, when the court invades this field, it commits error. Under the rule in this state the court is limited to a statement of the law governing the various features of the case, without suggestion as to the weight to be given to any part of the evidence. State v. Crofford, 121 Iowa, 395, 96 N. W. 889;State v. Austin, 109 Iowa, 118, 80 N. W. 303;State v. Lightfoot, 107 Iowa, 344, 78 N. W. 41;State v. Desmond, 109 Iowa, 72, 80 N. W. 214;State v. Carter, 112 Iowa, 15, 83 N. W. 715.

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