Sears v. State

The appellant was convicted of second degree burglary by a jury in the Vanderburgh Circuit Court, the Honorable Steve Bach, Special Judge, presiding. The appellant here raises two points in support of his appeal for a new trial: (1) that the trial court erred in allowing the prosecutor to elicit incompetent evidence from the appellant on cross examination which in fact shifted the burden of proof to the appellant, and (2) that one of the instructions given to the jury by the trial court was erroneous in that it invaded the province of the jury.

The evidence in this case indicates that the…