The instructions given on behalf of defendants were as follows:
“The jury in a criminal case are the judges of the law and the evidence, and have to act according to their best judgment of such law and the facts.
“The jury have a right to disregard the instructions of the court, provided they can say upon their oaths that they believe they know the law better than the court.
“The law presumes the defendants innocent of the charge in the indictment until the jury are satisfied by the evidence, beyond all reasonable doubt, of the guilt of the defendants.
“If a reasonable doubt of any facts, necessary to convict the accused, is raised in the minds of the jury by the evidence itself, or by the ingenuity of counsel upon any hypothesis reasonably consistent with the evidence, that doubt is decisive in favor of the prisoners’ acquittal. A verdict of not guilty simply means that the guilt of the accused has not been demonstrated in the precise, specific and narrow forms prescribed by the law.
“No jury should convict anybody of crime upon mere suspicion, however strong, or because there is a preponderance of all the evidence against him, but the jury must be convinced of the defendant’s guilt, beyond all reasonable doubt, before they can lawfully convict.
“The law does not require the defendants to prove themselves innocent, but the burden of proof that they are guilty beyond all reasonable doubt is upon the prosecution.
“The indictment is of itself a mere accusation and no proof of the guilt of the defendants.
“The presumption of the innocence of the defendants is not a mere form, but an essential, substantial part of the law of the land, and it is the duty of the jury to give the defendants the full benefit of this presumption in this case.