Cool v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Cool v. United States
On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
No. 72-72. Argued: N/A --- Decided: December 4, 1972
Trial court's "accomplice instruction," in effect requiring the jury to decide that a defense witness' testimony was "true beyond a reasonable doubt" before considering that testimony, impermissibly obstructed the right of a criminal defendant to present exculpatory testimony of an accomplice (Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14); and it unfairly reduced the prosecution's burden of proof, since it is possible that the testimony would have created a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, but that it was not considered because the testimony itself was not believable beyond a reasonable doubt. Cf. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358.
Certiorari granted; 461 F.2d 521, reversed and remanded.
PER CURIAM.