110 Iowa 663 | Iowa | 1899
V. Appellant complains of the eleventh paragraph of the charge, for that it did not state all the elements necessary to constitute murder in the second degree. If that paragraph stood alone, the complaint would be well founded, but in the twelfth paragraph this degree of the crime is fully :and correctly defined. Complaint is also' made of the fifteenth paragraph, defining the law of self-defense, .and Instructing that the burden was upon the state to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not acting in self-defense. This instruction presents fully and fairly this subject, and we discover no error in it. Appellant asked an instruction to the effect that the testimony of witnesses was not to be weighed by the statements of counsel not founded upon the testimony, and complains of the refusal to give this instruction. The first six paragraphs of the •charge are not set out at length, but it is apparent, from what is said of them, and what follows in the .instructions fully ■set out, that the jury could not have been misled on this ■subject. They were explicitly directed to determine the case upon the facts and circumstances as shown in the evidence.
We have examined the record with great care on the questions discussed by counsel, and generally with a view to determine .whether reversible error appears in the record,