Opinion ID: 1110457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Charge to the Jury as to Flight.

Text: Defendant reserved Bill of Exceptions 12 to that portion of the trial judges charge as to flight as follows: . . . The Court charges you, gentlemen, that the flight of an escaped accused, or escape, or attempt to escape on the part of the accused, taken alone does not raise a legal presumption of guilt. The fact of an accused having fled or having actually escaped from custody, if proved, are merely facts in the case to be taken into consideration by the Jury in connection with all the other facts in the case in determining the probabilities for or against the guilt of the accused. Flight or an attempt to escape may be prompted by a sense of guilt, but not necessarily so. If you find that the accused attempted to escape or did escape, it is for you to consider what was his motive of flight or the attempt to escape, or the escape. . . . Defendant made the following objection: I object to the giving of the Charge by the Court as to flight. There was no testimony as to flight in this case. As I understand it, flight is when the defendant flees apprehension by the police or attempts to flee the police when they attempt to arrest him.