City of Seattle v. Richard Bockman Land Corp.

The Richard Bockman Land Corporation was convicted at jury trial of violating a Seattle ordinance which requires floating homes to be connected to the city’s. sewer system. The city presented uncontroverted evidence that four floating homes owned by Bockman were not connected.

Bockman first claims that the trial judge’s instructions failed to place upon the city the burden of proving “each material element of fact beyond a reasonable doubt.” Instruction No. 1 concludes with the following sentence: “The burden of proof is on the plaintiff to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant…