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253 N.C. 568

117 S.E.2d 415

State v. Dallas

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided December 14, 1960

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1960-12-14

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“In our opinion, and we so decide, defendant was entitled to an explicit instruction, even in the absence of a specific request therefor, to the effect the jury should return a verdict of not guilty if the State failed to satisfy them from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that a bullet wound inflicted upon [the victim] by defendant proximately caused his death. The trial judge inadvertently failed to give such instruction. The necessity for such instruction is not affected by the fact there was plenary evidence upon which the jury could base a finding that a bullet wound inflicted upon [the victim] by defendant proximately caused his death. As indicated, the quoted excerpt from the charge was the court’s final instruction to the jury. It is noted that no instruction was given that if the State failed to satisfy the jury from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of murder in the second degree, and failed to satisfy the jury from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of manslaughter, the jury should return a verdict of not guilty.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 186 N.C. App. 373 - State v. McArthur

Relies on State v. . Baker · State v. . Howell

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1960-12-14

How this case has been cited

Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently April 2008

12 state decisions

6019601970198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per CuRiam.

¶1 Defendant denied that he intentionally shot deceased. The court charged the jury: “. . . (Y)ou may return one of three verdicts: a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, a verdict ■of guilty of manslaughter, or a verdict of not guilty on the grounds >of self-defense.” The charge as a whole limits the authority of the jury to return a verdict of not guilty to a finding of “not guilty by reason of self-defense.” At no time was the jury instructed that, if upon a fair and impartial consideration of the evidence they had a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt, it would be their duty to acquit him. In effect the court instructed the jury that defendant was not entitled to an acquittal unless he satisfied the jury that he had acted in self-defense. Defendant’s plea of not guilty cast upon the State the burden of satisfying the jury from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of each and every essential element of the offense. In limiting the possibility of acquittal to a showing of self-defense the court erred. State v. Baker, 222 N.C. 428, 28 S.E. 2d 340; State v. Howell, 218 N.C. 280, 10 S.E. 2d 815.

¶2 New trial.

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