Commonwealth v. Hosman

1 Citing case

  1. Commonwealth v. Kostka

    370 Mass. 516 (Mass. 1976)   Cited 98 times
    Finding of competence after hearing, despite evidence of mental illness including ingestion of light bulb, id. at 520 n. 3

    Second, we believe that the facts underlying the presumption are within the jury's common sense and knowledge and that it would be inappropriate and artificial to forbid jurors to rely, at least in part, on their common experience. See Commonwealth v. Hosman, 257 Mass. 379, 386 (1926); United States v. Dube, 520 F.2d 250, 254-255 (1st Cir. 1975) (Campbell, J., concurring). Cf. Keys v. United States, 346 F.2d 824, 826 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 869 (1965). "[I]n deciding the issue of insanity in a criminal case, the jury may infer that the defendant is sane from their common knowledge of the fact that a great majority of men are sane, and of the probability that any particular man is sane."