Court Opinion

ID: 9636739
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:41:25.170503+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:48.747734
License: Public Domain

MANTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The evidence against Michael F. Breen, father of Joseph Breen, did not justify the submission of his guilt to the jury. His acquittal should have been directed.
The evidence against Joseph Breen was indeed of little probative force. His conviction, I think, was due to errors committed on the trial. The learned trial judge’s definition and explanation of the doctrine of reasonable doubt was confusing, erroneous, and prejudicial. While Joseph Breen was testifying in his own defense, he was erroneously called upon to characterize as false the testimony of some 28 former employees who testified as to their wages at the trial. This was under the cross-examination of the learned trial judge.
For these reasons both convictions should be reversed.