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IN A CRIMINAL TRIAL - WHAT DOES BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT MEAN? - YouTube
Channel: George McCranie
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I'm George Mccranie DUI criminal defense
and serious injury attorney with offices
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and Douglas and Valdosta Georgia we've
had a lot of questions about at a trial
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what the state has to prove what's their
burden of proof and the burden of proof
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in Georgia is the state has to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that the
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defendant is guilty now what does that
mean beyond a reasonable doubt most
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people don't understand what it means
and the Fuller phrase is the state has
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to prove beyond a reasonable doubt of a
fair-minded juror okay now the best way
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I know to explain beyond a reasonable
doubt is to give you examples of it now
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the judge will explain to the jury
beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't mean
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ladies and gentlemen doesn't mean 51%
guilty doesn't mean 65 75 85 95 99
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percent guilty it means exactly what it
says it means that the state has to
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prove their case for you beyond a
reasonable doubt of a fair-minded juror
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okay now for me I'm from Willacoochee
Georgia very small town to me that
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doesn't tell me exactly what I want to
know if I was a juror so let me just I'm
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gonna move the camera around here just a
second I'm going to show you an aid that
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I use visually I use whenever we have
trials to help explain what beyond a
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reasonable doubt is y'all pardon me for
moving the camera here and if you take a
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look this is what we have for beyond a
reasonable doubt now the very bottom is
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no evidence there's no trace of evidence
whatsoever next step up is scintilla and
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it's just the smallest amount of
evidence that you can have beyond that
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is reasonable suspicion and reasonable
suspicion should be based on specific
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and particular factual reasons not based
on a hunch or a guess okay not I think
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the person might have marijuana in the
car because they do it like they smoked
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marijuana that's not it they've got to
have actual reasons okay probable cause
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is the next step
reasonable and trustworthy information
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that a person has committed a particular
crime when you go above that the next
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step up and as we go up we're getting
closer and closer to beyond a reasonable
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doubt the next step up is preponderance
there's a greater weight or amount of
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evidence involved in the case then you
have clear and convincing clear and
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convincing evidence is a firm belief
that the allegations are true but even
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if you have clear and convincing
evidence that doesn't mean that you can
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find the person guilty the high step on
my visual aid here is reasonable doubt
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and if you find that there's reasonable
doubt it still requires a not guilty
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verdict now what you have to do is you
have to actually go beyond a reasonable
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doubt and now the way that works and
I've done this I'll tell you what I'll
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do I'll give an example
and I've done this this is an example
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that I have given for years and used and
used and used and it seems that
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explained it pretty well to most jurors
now here's here's what we're looking at
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let's say we've got a trial jury trial
and the person's been charged of
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speeding and DUI that's all they've been
charged with no failure to maintain Lane
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no reckless driving no crossing the
center line anything like that just
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speeding and DUI well we have the trial
and gets started and we have opening
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statements at the beginning at the
opening statement that I give I'll
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explain all the evidence that I think
that we're going to be able to prove
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it's going to be able to come in and I'm
gonna argue later on that that's the
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evidence and it's not enough to prove my
clients guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
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but I also talk about the state's
evidence and I say you know the state's
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evidence ladies and gentlemen I want
y'all to think of it as the state's box
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that they fill up with evidence and
we'll talk about that box later on now
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after the trial and we've gotten down to
where we're having closing statements
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after all the evidences come in the
officers have testified everyone's
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testified this is what I get into
usually to explain reasonable doubt
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beyond a reasonable doubt I'll explain
about the judge judge gonna tell you
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that it's not 75 85 95 99 percent guilty
that's not the standard the standard is
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they have to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt a fair-minded juror so I say let
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me give you an example let's take a box
imaginary box just like you'd buy TV in
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let's put it down here in front of the
jury all right now we open that box up
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and in the box we put a mouse and we
close the lid back up on the box and we
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wait five minutes we go back we come
over to this box we open the stakes box
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back up again we don't look in the box
and we put a cat in the box and we close
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the lid we wait five minutes now if you
come back and you open the lid on the
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box and the only thing you see in the
box is the cat then you can believe
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beyond a reasonable doubt that the cat
ate the mouse and if the cat is the only
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thing you see in the state's box then
you'd be authorized to find my client
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guilty but if you look in that box and
you find one hole one who the mouse
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could have ran out of that hole before
we ever even put the cat in the box now
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let me tell you about all the holes in
the state's case you remember the
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officer testified he testified that in
his training that speeding is not an
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indicator that some was impaired in fact
speeding safely with the absence of any
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other charges is an indicator that the
person is able to drive safely because
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they weren't weaving they weren't
failing to maintain Lane they didn't
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cross the center line they didn't leave
the roadway actually the speeding charge
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and you heard him testify it's harder to
speed safely than it is not to okay so
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here's what we're looking at that's the
first hole in the state's box my clients
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only charge of speeding no indication of
impaired driving whatsoever and then I
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go on to try to put holes in that box to
make it look like you shot it with a
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shotgun
okay now that's the best way that I know
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to explain reasonable doubt to people
and I use it often in trials and it's
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very successful I've had great great
success with that so if this is a
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question that you have about the young
what is beyond a reasonable doubt of
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what they have to prove in a criminal
trial in Georgia when I say they I mean
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the government what the government has
to prove remember you don't have to
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testify you don't have to give one bit
of evidence in a criminal trial in
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Georgia they can't make you do it
alright sometimes it might be in your
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best interest sometimes it might not be
but they can't make you testify that
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explains beyond a reasonable doubt here
in Georgia if you've got any questions
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feel free to give us a call you can
reach us at eight thirty three nine
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twenty 76227 you can also text us you
can text two 855 972 forty-four and if
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you'll take this will reply to you and
get you some answers that you need
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now if you've been charged through the
crime in Georgia and remember this and
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this is what I always advise people and
meant nothing deny everything demand
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proof and then get you an experienced
lawyer because you're gonna need it okay
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thank you all I appreciate you watching
again I'm George McCraney DUI criminal
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defense attorney and serious injury
attorney with offices in Valdosta and
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Douglas Georgia thank you
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