ADMJ 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Reasonable Doubt, Forego, Jury Nullification
Document Summary
Due process clauses of constitution (5th and 14th amendments) require prosecutor to persuade fact-finder beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime charged . Reasonable doubt = prime instrument for reducing risk of convictions resting on factual error. May enhance risk that factually guilty people will be set free. Rests on fundamental value determination of our society that it is far worse to convict an innocent man than to let a guilty man go free. Owens v. state (md) drunk in the car in a private drive- a conviction upon circumstantial evidence alone is not to be sustained unless the circumstances are inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence. In cases where there is only circumstantial evidence, the judge and jury must determine that they can fairly draw a guilty inference and reject an innocent inference. The totality of the circumstances must be inconsistent with a reasonable hypothesis of innocence.
