123 Minn. 276 | Minn. | 1913
Appeal from an order denying a new trial, after conviction of murder in second degree on an indictment charging murder in first degree.
Defendant, aged 24 years, and deceased were husband and wife. Shortly prior to October 2, 1912, they became estranged and separated. On the day stated they met at the home of defendant’s sister, in Minneapolis, and each accused the .other of being responsible for their domestic troubles, deceased finally saying: “We are separated, but the first chance I get on you I am going to get me a gun and I am going to get even with you.” Whereupon he obtained his revolver, caliber 38, from an adjoining room, and, returning, shot her four times in the chest. She, to defendant’s knowledge, was unarmed, and he was not afraid of her. Immediately after the shooting he left the house, stating that' he had shot his wife and was going to give himself up. Neighbors eame in at once, and shortly thereafter she died. A few minutes later the coroner arrived and saw,
“In all cases removed to the highest court for review, the evidence, -when returned on the appeal, should first be looked to for the purpose ■of determining the guilt or innocence of defendant. If there be no doubt of his guilt, alleged errors not affecting his substantial or ■constitutional rights should be brushed aside, and in their place*279 substituted the almighty force and power of truth. The conviction of an innocent person is far too remote a probability to justify an application of the technical rules of law so necessary in olden times, when persons were not surrounded by the same constitutional and statutory safeguards as at the present day. The safeguards thrown around accused persons are not intended as a means to enable the criminal to effect an escape from the- punishment his crime calls for, but to protect the innocent and secure to all a fair, impartial, and orderly trial on definite lines of procedure.”
When the evidence is viewed in the light of these observations, defendant’s contentions cannot be sustained.
We find no ground for the claim that the charge was argumentative. Nor did the court err in failing to instruct on manslaughter. State v. Nelson, supra; State v. Ronk, 91 Minn. 419, 98 N. W. 334; State v. Potoniec, 117 Minn. 80, 134 N. W. 305.
Order affirmed.