Chessher v. State

The defendant was prosecuted for selling a bottle of whiskey in a wet county contrary to law. If he did so without a license from, or not as an agent of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, he was guilty. The State's evidence had some tendency to establish this, and, if believed by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt and (the legal equivalent) to a moral certainty, conviction was authorized.

The oral charge of the court was upon this theory and sought to instruct the jury as to the constituent elements of such a law violation.

The following, and only, written charge requested by the defendant…