Opinion ID: 1611371
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: should the appellant have been granted a circumstantial evidence instruction?

Text: The court refused to give a circumstantial evidence instruction. For the instruction to be required, the prosecution must be without a confession and wholly without eye witnesses to the gravamen of the offense charged. Kniep v. State, 525 So.2d 385 (Miss. 1988). The same is true where there is an admission by the defendant on a significant element of the offense. Mack v. State, 481 So.2d 793, 795 (Miss. 1985). The details of the crimes were described in both the written and the video-taped confessions. The mere fact that Woodward asserts that the confession indicates the voluntary nature of the sexual intercourse does not require a circumstantial evidence instruction even if the assertion is true, because the sexual intercourse is proved by the confession.