(Download) "State v. Chavez" by Supreme Court of Montana # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State v. Chavez
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 10, 1929
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 56 KB
Description
Criminal Law ? Murder ? Manslaughter ? Evidence ? Sufficiency. Homicide ? Murder ? Malice ? When Presumed. 1. The malice which brands a homicide as murder may be express or implied, and on proof of the homicide by defendant, in the absence of evidence tending to show that the act amounted only to manslaughter or that the killing was justifiable or excusable, malice is presumed and the crime is presumed to be murder in the second degree. Same ? Deliberation on Part of Defendant Necessary to Constitute Murder in First Degree ? What Necessary to Reduce Crime to Manslaughter. 2. To show murder in the first degree the state has the burden of proving deliberation on the part of the defendant; if, on the other hand, the defendant would reduce the crime to manslaughter, - Page 545 there must be evidence adduced by the defense, or appearing in the states case, sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury as to the existence of malice. Same ? What Constitutes Murder in Second Degree. 3. To constitute murder in the second degree it is not necessary that the specific intent to take life must have accompanied the act of killing. If the killing was done unlawfully with malice aforethought it is sufficient; hence where one fires at the assailant of another but by reason of poor marksmanship or change of position of the combatants kills the one whom he sought to protect, the crime is murder in the second degree. Same ? Murder in Second Degree ? Evidence ? Sufficiency. 4. Defendant convicted of murder in the second degree on appeal contended that the evidence warranted a verdict of guilty of no greater crime than manslaughter. Evidence showing that defendant, angry at being awakened from sleep by a quarrel in an adjoining room between his cousin and one of three other men there present, intentionally fired three bullets into the room either in reckless disregard of the safety of the men or directly at the cousin or at the man with whom he was fighting, killing the former, held sufficient to warrant a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, under the above rules.