State v. Zorn

In the district court of Custer county, on the third day of October, 1934, Henry John Zorn was convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree, and was thereafter sentenced to be hanged. He appealed from the judgment of conviction.

We are asked to reverse the judgment and grant the defend ant a new trial upon the sole contention that the court erred in giving Instruction No. 21, over the objection of the defendant. The challenged instruction embodied the oft-approved definition of a “reasonable doubt,” found in Territory v. McAndrews, 3 Mont. 158, but with the prefatory paragraph: “You…