Minor v. State
Minor v. State
Opinion of the Court
-—On the 23rd day of April, 1907, an information was filed in the criminal court of record of Duval county against D. A. Minor, the plaintiff in error, and Bryant Nichols, charging them in the first count with the larceny of cigars of the value of $110.00 of the property of Gus Muller, and in the second count with feloniously receiving stolen cigars of the value of $1x0.00, of the property of Gus Muller knowing ¡the same to have been stolen. Minor and Nichols were tried and convicted under the second count of the inform¡ation, and sentenced to the state prison. Minor has sued out a writ of error from this judgment.
The first five assignments of error are abandoned. The remaining thirteen assignments are all based on the refusal of the court to give certain instructions requested by Defendant Minor. Before considering these assignments, let us glance at some of the charges and instructions which were given to the jury by the court touching the offense of which the accused Minor was convicted. The court of its own motion defined the offense of larceny, grand and petit, and in substance instructed the jury that in order to convict the defendants, or either of them, of receiving stolen goods, they must be satisfied from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, that a larceny had been committed of the property of Muller or
That if the jury are not satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt to a moral certainty and to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis but that of defendant’s guilt, they should find him not guilty; and it is not necessary to raise a reasonable doubt that the jury should find a probability of defendant’s innocence; that such a doubt may arise where there is no probability of his innocence in the testimony; and if the jury have not an abiding conviction to a moral certainty of his guilt, they should acquit liim.” “You are at liberty to disregard the statement of a witness or witnesses, if any there be, who have been impeached, either by direct contradiction or otherwise as it may appear from the testimony. The fact that a pérson is charged with crime raises no presumption against him, or his character, for he is presumed to be innocent until the contrary is proven from the evidence, and this presumption attends him or her throughout the entire trial, and in every step, and in every stage of the case.” All the foregoing instructions were given at the request of defendant, Minor, and apply to both counts in the indictment.
Instructions requested from the sixth to the tenth inclusive, are simply statements in various language of the law in regard to circumstantial evidence and reasonable doubt which was sufficiently set forth in the instructions given.
Instruction eleven is erroneous and misleading. It was an endeavor to instruct the jury, that though it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the property was stolen, and the stolen property was found in defendant’s possession, in addition, the evidence must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant stole it, or received it knowing it to have been stolen. This under the facts of this case which show the property was recently stolen
Instructions twelve, thirteen and fourteen, are cautionary in their nature designed to inform' the jury, that they were the sole judges of the credibility and weight of the evidence and in passing on the credibility of the witnesses, they had a right to take into consideration their conduct, demeanor, bearing, bias, prejudice, etc.
The giving of cautionary instructions is usually a matter of discretion with the trial court, and unless the appellate court can see from the facts of the case a fair trial was not had by reason of the refusal to give such instructions, it should not for that cause alone, reverse the case. Hughes on Instructions to Juries, Sec. 49; Blashfield on Instructions to Juries, Civil and Criminal, Sec. 213.
So far as we can discover, the only witnesses whose testimony required such cautionary instructions, were Harris, the negro witness who was contradicted by Nichols, Mrs. Nichols and Mrs. Minor, in regard to his taking a barrel of cigars at night, from Nichols’ place to Minor’s house; and Jones, who confessed to being an accomplice of Minor’s. As to this testimony the trial judge at the request of Minor gave cautionary instructions and it was not necessary to repeat such instructions.
Instructions fifteen, sixteen and eighteen dealt with the subject of reasonable doubt, and upon that question the court had already given sufficient instructions.
Instruction seventeen undertook to inform the jury that the cigars alleged to have been stolen must be identified beyond a reasonable- doubt. In addition to what has been said about the sufficiency of the instructions upon the subject of reasonable doubt, this instruction assumes a narrower scope to the proof upon the subject of
We have examined all the questions raised by the assignments of error, and find no reversible error in the record.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Taylor and Parkhill, JJ., concur;
Si-iackleford, C. J., Cockrell and Whitfield, JJ., concur in the opinion.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- D. A. Minor, in Error v. The State of Florida, in Error
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. It is not error for the trial court to refuse to give instructions which contain only reiterations and repetitions in various language of principles of law which are fully covered by the charge of the court. 2. There is no error in refusing to give an instruction which under the facts would be misleading. 3. The giving of cautionary instructions is usually a matter of discretion with the trial court, and unless an appellate court, can see from the facts of the case a fair trial was not had by reason of the refusal to give such instructions, it should not for that cause alone reverse a case. 4. An instruction which assumes a narrower scope to the proof than the evidence affords, is properly r'efused.