People v. Davis

The defendant, following a two-day trial, was convicted by a jury of the crime of burning a dwelling house. MCLA § 750.72 (Stat Ann 1962 Rev § 28.267). Defendant was sentenced to serve a term of 7-1/2 to 20 years in prison. From the denial of defendant’s motion for a new trial, defendant appeals as of right.

Defendant alleges that the prosecution failed to establish the corpus delicti of the crime; that defendant’s extrajudicial statements were improperly used in attempting to establish the corpus delicti of the crime; and that the proofs were insufficient to rebut the presumption that the…