[DOWNLOAD] "Durham v. State" by Supreme Court of Wyoming ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Durham v. State
- Author : Supreme Court of Wyoming
- Release Date : January 24, 1967
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 57 KB
Description
Defendant Durham was charged on four counts of issuing fraudulent checks, two of which were dismissed by the court. On the remaining two, defendant was found guilty and sentenced from two to four years on each, which sentences were to run concurrently. He has appealed, alleging four errors, (1) the trial court refused to instruct the jury as to the meaning of willfully and feloniously; (2) the court's instruction, that no inference should be drawn from the failure of defendant to testify and that such failure to testify did not in any manner remove the presumption of innocence or relieve the State of the burden of proving defendant's guilt, was prejudicial; (3) there was no proper foundation for admitting the checks in evidence; (4) the State failed to sustain its burden of proof. We have carefully analyzed the argument and reviewed the record in the light of the contentions made. No authorities are cited as holding that it is necessary for a court to define to a jury in a criminal case the words ""willfully"" or ""feloniously"" and we think that this is unnecessary unless in the particular case the words in question had a definite, technical meaning under the law different from the ordinary meaning and which the jury might therefore not understand. We know nothing in the instant case which would require such a definition.