160 Pa. 451 | Pa. | 1894
Opinion by
This case appears to have been tried with great care in the court below. The distinctions between murder of the first and of the second degree were plainly pointed out, and the facts were submitted to the jury in a manner of which no just complaint can be made. The conviction of the defendant of the crime of murder of the first degree was the result of the overwhelming weight of the evidence against him.
The learned counsel for the defendant assigns error to the answers made by the learned judge to his first and second points; These points were answered in the affirmative, subject to a qualification, and it is of the qualification that complaint is made. These points drew the attention of the court to the testimony given by the defendant, and asked, in effect, that if, at the time the fatal shot was fired by the defendant, he believed himself to be in danger of death or great bodily harm at the hands of the assailant, and that “ acting on that belief he fired
The qualification of the answer to the third point was also a proper one. Where a deliberate purpose is formed to kill A and the defendant fires a pistol at him for that purpose, the fact that the ball misses its intended victim and takes effect on B and kills him, does not relieve the murderer. He is equally guilty whether his effort to kill A results in the taking of his life or the life of B.
The fifth assignment of error is equally untenable. The learned judge instructed the jury in the tests they should employ in determining the credibility of the defendant. He told them that the extent to which he was contradicted by the witnesses, the character of the testimony given by them, the reasonableness of his own testimony, and its consistency with the established facts in the case, were all proper subjects for consideration in determining the credit to which his testimony was entitled. This was a proper instruction to give and was not harmful to the defendant, unless his testimony was of such a character that the application of these tests led the jury to reject it.
The record is remitted for purposes of execution.