Webb v. State

In the prosecution of a murder ease, where the only incriminating evidence against the accused is circumstantial, is it reversible error for the' trial judge to fail to instruct the jury upon the nature of circumstantial evidence and upon the general rules of law governing it, no special request being tendered by defendant? Yes.

Principle: In such a case the main fact — the factum probandum — is the fatal stroke, and if there be no direct testimony connecting the accused with the main fact, as the slayer, and the sole evidence is circumstantial, it is error not to instruct the jury as to the…