EVIDENCE - STATUTORY PRESUMPTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES - CONSTITUTIONALITY - DUE PROCESS

Authors

Malcolm L. Denise, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Defendant admitted killing deceased with unlicensed pistol. The trial court instructed the jury pursuant to a statute which provided that in the trial of a person charged with committing or attempting to commit a felony against the person of another while armed with any firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, without having a license or permit to carry such firearm, the fact that he was so armed should be prima facie evidence of his intent to commit such felony. Upon objection that the statute was unconstitutional as depriving defendant of due process of law, the court held that there was error in giving the instruction, because the legislature, although having the power to prescribe rules of evidence and procedure, could not arbitrarily authorize the inference of one fact from another fact which had no necessary tendency to establish it. People v. Murguia, (Cal. 1936) 57 P. (2d) 115.

Recommended Citation

Malcolm L. Denise, EVIDENCE - STATUTORY PRESUMPTIONS IN CRIMINAL CASES - CONSTITUTIONALITY - DUE PROCESS, 35 Mich. L. Rev. 333 (1936).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol35/iss2/15