Charge of the court to the jury

to a moral certainty that the prisoner is guilty.

I will now read the instructions asked on the part of the prosecution and given by the court.

"The voluntary and deliberate admissions or confessions of the defendant, made after the commission of the offense, may be taken by the jury as evidence of his guilt. The jury may and should consider the circumstances surrounding the defendant under which the alleged confessions were made, and if the jury believe the said confessions, they would be warranted in acting upon them as evidence of guilt, the corpus delicti being proven by other evidence."

And I will now read the instructions asked in behalf of the defendant and assented to by the prosecution and given by the court:

I "The Jury are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses who have testified in this case."

II. Although the jury may be satisfied

that the offense charged in the indictment has been committed, yet if they find that the witnesses in this case were accomplices in the commision of the offense they cannot find the defendant guilty, unless those witnesses be corroborated by such other evidence as shall tend to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense.

And such corroboration will be insufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense or the circumstances of such commission but they must connect the defendant with the crime charged in the indictment."

III. "If the jury believe from the evidence, that there has been a conspiracy amongst the witnesses for the prosecution, to shield themselves, or any other person or persons from punishment for the commission of the crime charged in the indictment, by the conviction of the defendant alone - it is a matter that the jury may take into consideration for the purpose of determining the credibility of the witnesses."

IV. "In this case the jury are instructed that they may find a verdict of murder

4

In the first degree or murder in the second degree or manslaughter, or not guilty, as they shall think warranted by the testimony."

Now, gentlemen, I have discharged my duty to you in this case, and it rests with you to say, upon your oaths, whether the defendant be guilty or not.

It is to be hoped that you are able to show your manhood and give your verdict in accordance with the evidence, without regard to any outside influence.

Your duty is not only to the prisoner at the bar but also to the people and your own consciences.

Your action will be looked to with great interest both far and near, and it behooves you as honest men to act candidly, fearlessly, carefully and conscientiously.

Jacob S. Boreman, Judge.

Second District Court September 1876

106

People &c vs. John D. Lee impleaded &c

Charge of the Court to the Jury.

Filed Oct 6, 1876. James R. Wilkins, Clerk