Evans v. State

The failure of the State to produce evidence available to it has long been advanced by counsel in argument to a jury as the rationale for finding reasonable doubt. When counsel for appellant, Willie Evans, resorted to this trial strategy, the presiding judge admonished the jury regarding its limited consideration of evidence not adduced. Appellant now asks us, in this appeal, to denounce the court’s instruction regarding the State’s obligation to produce evidence. As we shall observe, infra, remarkably, judicial action to clarify the jury’s consideration of such arguments has received…