67 So. 718 | Ala. Ct. App. | 1915
The appellant killed Saunt Ragsdale by shooting him with a gun in a cotton patch near the home of the deceased, and for this he" was indicted for ■ murder in the first degree, and was tried and convicted for manslaughter in the first degree and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of four years. The only questions presented for review here arise from the refusal of the court to give charges numbered 3, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 22.
The evidence on the part of the state tended to show that appellant, a few minutes before the killing, with
The only difference between charge 3, refused by the court to defendant, and charge 4, given at his instance, is that charge 4 requires the probability of innocence that would justify an acquittal to arise out of the evidence, while charge 3 does not. The refusal of charge 3 can, therefore, be justified because it authorizes an acquittal on a probability of innocence not arising from the evidence or existing in the face of the whole evidence.—McClain v. State, 182 Ala. 81, 62 South. 241. The charge was faulty for another reason. It justifies an acquittal on a probability of innocence, while it must be a reasonable probability of 'innocence arising invol
Charge 12 refused to the defendant is an exact duplicate of charge 13 given at defendant’s instance, and was correctly refused.—McClain v. State, supra; Watkins v. State, 133 Ala. 88, 32 South. 627; Wildman, v. State, 139 Ala. 125, 35 South. 995; Smith v. State, 182 Ala. 38, 62 South. 184.
Charges 16, 17, 18, and 19, besides ignoring the doctrine of freedom from fault (being properly refused for that reason), are substantial duplicates of charge 20 given at defendant’s request, and for this reason were properly refused.—McClain v. State, supra.
Charge 22 authorized an acquittal if any member of the jury entertained a reasonable doubt of his guilt, and this justified its refusal. The proposition asserted in charge 22, refused to defendant, was given to the jury in charge 6, and no obligation rested on the court to repeat this instruction.—Smith v. State, supra.
We have carefully considered all questions presented by the record, and find no error therein at which the appellant can complain, and the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Affirmed.