Jefferson County v. Buchanan

How later courts describe this case

• finding instructions similar to those here to be confusing and conflicting, and thus a violation of due process
• a properly performed electrocution “involves an instantaneous blocking of any sensory perceptions or instantaneously rendering the person unconscious so that he was unable to feel any pain...'.”
• instructions stated state was “bound to prove every material allegation or claim of the indictment beyond every reasonable doubt” and defendant “must establish the plea of self-defense by the preponderance or greater weight of the evidence”
• litigant consent is not necessary for pretrial motion referrals
• “The court therefore had in one breath instructed the jury that the accused had the burden of proving self-defense by a preponderance of the evidence, yet in the other that the prosecution had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing had been felonious (and therefore unlawful