Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/245/559/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:53:41+00:00

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There is no presumption in a criminal case that the accused is of good character.
A presumption upon a matter of fact, when it is not merely a disguise for another principle, means that common experience shows the fact to be so generally true that courts may notice the truth.
The district court in a criminal trial is not bound by the rules of evidence as they stood in 1789. Rosen v. United States, ante, 245 U. S. 467.
was presumed to be innocent of the charge until his guilt was established beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the presumption followed him throughout the trial until so overcome. The circuit court of appeals sustained the court below. 240 F. 320. This judgment was in accordance with a carefully reasoned earlier decision in the same circuit, Price v. United States, 218 F. 149, with an acute statement in United States v. Smith, 217 F. 839, and with numerous state cases and textbooks. But, as other Circuit courts of Appeal had taken a different view, Mullen v. United States, 106 F. 892; Garst v. United States, 180 F. 339, 344-345, also taken by other cases and textbooks, it becomes necessary for this Court to settle the doubt.
door to contradiction by going into evidence when, without it, good character would be incontrovertibly presumed. Addison v. People, 193 Ill. 405, 419.
Our reasoning is confirmed by the fact that the right to introduce evidence of good character seems formerly to have been regarded as a favor to prisoners, McNally, Evidence, 320, which sufficiently implies that good character was not presumed. In reason, it should not be. A presumption upon a matter of fact, when it is not merely a disguise for some other principle, means that common experience shows the fact to be so generally true that courts may notice the truth. Whatever the scope of the presumption that a man is innocent of the specific crime charged, it cannot be said that, by common experience, the character of most people indicted by a grand jury is good.
It is argued that the court was bound by the rules of evidence as they stood in 1789. That those rules would not be conclusive is sufficiently shown by Rosen v. United States, ante, 245 U. S. 467. But it is safe to believe that the supposed presumption is of later date, of American origin, and comes from overlooking the distinction between this and the presumption of innocence and from other causes not necessary to detail.

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