In 1824, an indictment for murder was found in Kentucky against a son of the Governor. The case was one which excited great public interest, and was talked over from one end of the State to the other. The result was that when the trial came on it was found impossible, term after term, to make up a jury of men who, from what they had heard or read, had not formed what the defense claimed and the court thought to be a sufficiently firm opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused to justify their exclusion. The legislature was finally appealed to for relief and passed a statute that an opinion formed from mere rumor should not be a ground of challenge. The case was then, in 1827, taken up for the ninth time, but with the same result, whereupon the defendant's father gave him a pardon, on the ground that "the prospect of obtaining a jury is entirely hopeless," and that he had "no doubt of his being innocent of the foul charges."[Footnote: Niles' Register, XXXII, 357, 405; XXXVIII, 336.] When a capital case is coming on, great pains will often be taken by the prisoner's counsel to ascertain the characteristics and disposition toward his client of each of the jurors who have been summoned to court. This has sometimes been carried to the extent of trickery, particularly in some of the Southern States. Agents have been sent over the county to see every man capable of jury service. There is some ostensible reason given for the call. He is perhaps asked to buy a photograph of the accused; perhaps to contribute to a fund to provide him with counsel. This naturally leads to some expression of opinion in regards to the charge made against him, and if the man thus "interviewed" should be afterwards offered as a juror, he is challenged or not challenged according to the information so obtained. In every criminal case the defendant's guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. A mere preponderance of evidence is not enough. In other respects the rules of evidence are applicable which obtain in civil cases. If a verdict of Not Guilty is returned, the court orders the discharge of the prisoner, as a matter of course, unless provision has been made by statute for an appeal by the State for errors of law committed on the trial. No such appeal can be allowed for the purpose of obtaining a new trial on the ground that the jury came to a wrong conclusion on the facts. This would be to put the defendant twice in jeopardy, which our Constitutions generally forbid. Even under the practice prevailing in the Philippine Islands, where they have no juries, and an appeal to a higher court for a new trial on the merits has always been allowed to either party in a criminal case, as a matter of right, this rule is held to apply.[Footnote: Kepner _v._ United States, 195 U. S. Reports, 100.]