Opinion ID: 1247852
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: MacReady

Text: Early on the morning of July 29, 1979, the residents of the Brister house discovered defendant Daniel MacReady asleep at the bottom of the living room stairwell. Viola Brister called the police while her children locked themselves in the bedroom. Just as the police arrived, MacReady, apparently having awakened, ran out of the house but was quickly apprehended. He was moderately intoxicated and had in his pocket a Space Needle paperweight, worth only $1.50, which belonged to the Bristers. MacReady had apparently entered the house through a basement window he had broken. It was on the sill of this window where the paperweight was kept. Nothing else in the house was missing or damaged. MacReady knew the Brister daughter, a friend of his sister, and had driven her home once or twice. The information charged that MacReady entered the Brister house with intent to commit a crime, but did not specify the crime. The jury was instructed in similar language and the term crime was not defined. MacReady objected to neither the sufficiency of the information nor the instructions; however, he did except to the same presumption instruction given in Johnson's trial (see page 611) on the ground that it deprived him of his right to have the State prove every element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.