Moore v. State

Bell, Chief Judge.

1. The evidence was sufficient to authorize the conviction.

2. However, the judgment must be reversed because the trial judge erred by instructing the jury that the defendant had the burden of proving the affirmative defense of coercion by a preponderance of the evidence.

We, the judges of both appellate courts, have thoroughly confused the law on whether a defendant in a criminal case has any burden of proof or of persuasion. The writer is equally at fault — having concurred in Gibbons v. State, 136 Ga. App. 609 (222 SE2d 55).

Under constitutional concepts, the answer has to…