State v. Burrow

When Patterson’s case was before the New York Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Breitel cautioned in a concurring opinion:

“It would be an abuse of affirmative defenses, as it would be of presumptions. in the criminal law, if the purpose or effect were to unhinge the procedural presumption of innocence which historically and constitutionally shields one charged with crime. Indeed, a by-product of such abuse *707might well be also to undermine the privilege against self-incrimination by in effect forcing a defendant in a criminal action to testify in his own behalf.”

People v, Patterson, 39 NY2d 288,…