State v. Kilcoyne

The requested instructions each related to a fact which was not a necessary part of the state’s case. Those facts were merely surrounding circumstances, each of which had a tendency to show the defendant’s guilt. But without reference to any of them there was abundant evidence upon which to find the defendant guilty. In this state of the proof, it manifestly would have been error to charge that the state’s failure to prove these material but non-essential facts would entitle the defendant to an acquittal. The requests were properly denied.

If the requests were also to be treated as seeking a…