William Burnham Woods

“ The result of the authorities is that, as long as the fact of the first marriage is contested, the second wife cannot be admitted to prove it. When the first marriage is duly established by other evidence, to the satisfaction of the court, she may be admitted to prove the second marriage, but not the first, and the jury should have been so instructed.
In this case the injunction of the law of Utah, that the wife should not be a witness for or against her husband, was practically ignored by the court. ”

“ To hold that, on an indictment for bigamy, the first marriage can only be proven by eye-witnesses of the ceremony, is to apply to this offence a rule of evidence not applicable to any other.
The great weight of authority is adverse to the position of the plaintiff in error. ”

“ The ground upon which a second wife is admitted as a witness against her husband, in a prosecution for bigamy, is that she is shown not to be a real wife by proof of the fact that the accused had previously married another wife, who was still living and still his lawful wife. ”

“ A balance of proof is not sufficient. A juror in a criminal case ought not to condemn unless the evidence excludes from his mind all reasonable doubt; unless he be so convinced by the evidence, no matter what the class of the evidence, of the defendant's guilt, that a prudent man would feel safe to act upon that conviction in matters of the highest concern and importance to his own dearest personal interests.'
The plaintiff in error alleges as ground of error the exclusion from the jury of Oscar Dunn, Robert Patrick, and others of the Mormon faith. ”

“ Norwood's Case, 1 East, P. C. 470; Commonwealth v. Murtagh, 1 Ashm. (Pa.) 272; Regina v. Newton, 2 Moo. & R. 503; State v. McDonald, 25 Miss. 176; Wolverton v. State, 16 Ohio, 173; State v. Seals, 16 Ind. ”