Conkwright v. People
Illinois Supreme Court
Writ of Error to the Recorder’s Court of the city of Chicago : the Hon Evert Van Burén, Judge, presiding. At the December Term, 1863, William G. Conkwright was indicted in the court below for the crime of larceny. Upon the trial it was proven on the part of the prosecution, that the stolen property was found in the store of the defendant, and the circumstances connected with the finding. The defendant introduced proof of previous good character.
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Writ of Error to the Recorder’s Court of the city of Chicago : the Hon Evert Van Burén, Judge, presiding. At the December Term, 1863, William G. Conkwright was indicted in the court below for the crime of larceny. Upon the trial it was proven on the part of the prosecution, that the stolen property was found in the store of the defendant, and the circumstances connected with the finding. The defendant introduced proof of previous good character. The trial resulted in his conviction. A motion for a new trial was overruled, and the defendant was sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary for…
1Opinion of the CourtChief Justice Walker
The assignment of errors on this record questions the correctness of the instructions given for the People. That the first instruction as given was wrong, and it is insisted should have been modified. It is this: “ The court instructs the jury that possession of property soon after it was stolen, is of itself prima facie evidence that it was stolen by the defendant.” It is said in Wharton’s Criminal Law, 278, that the presumption of guilt from possession, standing by itself, except in case of receiving stolen goods, is too slender to support a conviction. Again, at page 333, the same author…
2Cited by18 opinions
- The People v. MacKIllinois Supreme Court · 1957
- The PEOPLE v. PrideIllinois Supreme Court · 1959
- State v. CassadySupreme Court of Kansas · 1874
- Hoge v. PeopleIllinois Supreme Court · 1886
- Comfort v. PeopleIllinois Supreme Court · 1870
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