Back Issues & Abstracts

Note: 

Donald L. Gaffney, The Circumstantial Evidence Charge in Texas Criminal Cases: A Retrograde Doctrine, 55 TEXAS L. REV. 1255 (1977). 

Gaffney argues that development of a complicated and abstruse circumstantial evidence doctrine in Texas has failed to fulfill the purpose of cautioning the jury in cases based on inferentially weak proof of guilt.  He discusses two possible solutions.  Texas could either reduce the circumstantial evidence charge to a discretionary status or follow the trend in other states and abolish the charge requirement.  Before choosing a course, Texas courts must understand the nature of the State’s commitment to the circumstantial evidence charge.  Gaffey concludes that making circumstantial evidence charge discretionary rather than mandatory offers the best avenue for protecting the defendant and eliminating theoretical confusion.