State v. Leffingwell

MARTIN, Judge.

The defendant assigns as error the refusal of the court, upon request, to charge the jury as follows: “The burden to overcome the presumption of innocence rests upon the government. The failure of any defendant to testify does not create any presumption of guilt against him. The defendant is never required to prove his innocence.” The defendant offered evidence by several witnesses but he did not testify. Thus, this assignment of error raises the question of whether a non-testifying defendant has the indefeasible right, upon proper request, to have the court tell the jury in…