DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70301#0065
RICHARD PATCH.
49
and although jurors have sometimes thought themselves war-
ranted in convicting on circumstantial evidence, yet it has been
in cases where the circumstances proved, were such as excluded
all possibility of innocence, and which, therefore, demonstrat-
ed the guilt of the accused as clearly and satisfactorily as if he
had been seen to do the deed. Indeed, even in some of the
strongest cases, where juries have been induced by circum-
stances only, to convict a man, after the unhappy prisoner
has paid the forfeit of his life for his supposed crime, it has
been ascertained, that it had been committed by some other
person, and often after such convictions, has accusing con-
science forced from the murderers breast a secret calculated
to give the most solemn warning to those who are appointed
to try supposed offenders, to move with fearful caution in the
course that leads to death.
Gentlemen,—When you consider that circumstantial evi-
dence consists of a chain of proofs, connecting, by the inter
position of various facts, two things which have no connec
tion with each other, you will readily perceive how dangerous
it is to rely on a case, proved by such evidence. If any one
link be defective, the strength of the whole chain fails, and
although the broken members may be sufficient to create sus-
picion, they can, in no rational minds, induce conviction. All
hope of that moral certainty, which alone can authorize you
to say on your oaths, that a man is guilty, is gone the mo-
ment the least disagreement in the connecting points is dis-
covered, the moment the least doubt of the existence of any
one of them is excited. Reflect again on the union of the
various circumstances upon which the strength of each link
depends, and see if it be scarcely possible, that a chain con-
sisting of so many facts as to require a long day to lay them
before you, and those proved by thirty or forty witnesses, can
be perfect, Remember, that upon each circumstance, how-
ever minute, you are to satisfy yourselves of the credibility of
the witness deposing to it, upon the accuracy of his first
VOL. IV, H
49
and although jurors have sometimes thought themselves war-
ranted in convicting on circumstantial evidence, yet it has been
in cases where the circumstances proved, were such as excluded
all possibility of innocence, and which, therefore, demonstrat-
ed the guilt of the accused as clearly and satisfactorily as if he
had been seen to do the deed. Indeed, even in some of the
strongest cases, where juries have been induced by circum-
stances only, to convict a man, after the unhappy prisoner
has paid the forfeit of his life for his supposed crime, it has
been ascertained, that it had been committed by some other
person, and often after such convictions, has accusing con-
science forced from the murderers breast a secret calculated
to give the most solemn warning to those who are appointed
to try supposed offenders, to move with fearful caution in the
course that leads to death.
Gentlemen,—When you consider that circumstantial evi-
dence consists of a chain of proofs, connecting, by the inter
position of various facts, two things which have no connec
tion with each other, you will readily perceive how dangerous
it is to rely on a case, proved by such evidence. If any one
link be defective, the strength of the whole chain fails, and
although the broken members may be sufficient to create sus-
picion, they can, in no rational minds, induce conviction. All
hope of that moral certainty, which alone can authorize you
to say on your oaths, that a man is guilty, is gone the mo-
ment the least disagreement in the connecting points is dis-
covered, the moment the least doubt of the existence of any
one of them is excited. Reflect again on the union of the
various circumstances upon which the strength of each link
depends, and see if it be scarcely possible, that a chain con-
sisting of so many facts as to require a long day to lay them
before you, and those proved by thirty or forty witnesses, can
be perfect, Remember, that upon each circumstance, how-
ever minute, you are to satisfy yourselves of the credibility of
the witness deposing to it, upon the accuracy of his first
VOL. IV, H