Scott v. California, 364 U.S. 471 (1960)

Scott v. California


No. 241, Misc.


Decided December 5, 1960
364 U.S. 471

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA,
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

Syllabus

Appellant was convicted in a state court of murdering his wife. The evidence against him was entirely circumstantial. Proof of the corpus delicti, as well as proof of appellant’s criminal agency, was to be inferred only from his wife’s inexplicable disappearance coupled with appellant’s unnatural behavior thereafter. He did not take the stand in his own defense, and the trial judge instructed the jury that his failure to do so could be made the basis of inferences unfavorable to him. On appeal to this Court, appellant contended that his conviction violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Held: Appeal dismissed and certiorari denied.

Reported below: 176 Cal. App. 2d 458, 1 Cal. Rptr. 600.