State v. Gregory

In State v. Gregory, 198 S. C. 98, 104 (1941), the South Carolina Supreme Court held that evidence offered by a criminal defendant to show that a third party committed the crime is admissible if it "raise[s] a reasonable inference or presumption as to [the defendant's] own innocence" but is not admissible if it merely "cast[s] a bare suspicion upon another" or "raise[s] a conjectural inference as to the commission of the crime by another."

The Gregory Court held:

"[E]vidence offered by accused as to the commission of the crime by another person must be limited to such facts as are inconsistent with his own guilt, and to such facts as raise a reasonable inference or presumption as to his own innocence; evidence which can have (no) other effect than to cast a bare suspicion upon another, or to raise a conjectural inference as to the commission of the crime by another, is not admissible. ... [B]efore such testimony can be received, there must be such proof of connection with it, such a train of facts or circumstances, as tends clearly to point out such other person as the guilty party."