State of Tennessee, Appellant v. Harry T. Crawford, Jr., Appellee

Summary

On certiorari, the Tennessee Supreme Court reviewed a second-degree murder conviction that rested entirely on circumstantial evidence and concluded the facts did not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Following Stuart v. State, the Court held that in criminal cases it must weigh the proof itself and cannot affirm a verdict not warranted by the evidence, finding the incriminating indications mere straws in the wind incapable of weaving a web of guilt. It therefore affirmed the Court of Criminal Appeals' split-decision reversal, leaving the case remanded for a new trial. No separate opinions were filed.