Gary Wayne Lowe v. State Tennessee

This post-conviction appeal is before us on a limited basis, under an order restricting our review to the specific question of "whether the jury instruction in the habitual criminal phase of petitioners trial impermissibly shifted the burden of proof to the petitioner." At the petitioners original trial, the Judge instructed the jury that "a judgment of conviction of any person under the same name as that of the defendant is prima facie evidence that the identity of such person is the same as the defendant." This language is taken, almost verbatim, from T.C.A. § 39-1-804 (1982).