17 N.M. 409 | N.M. | 1913
OPINION OF THE COURT.
The objection urged against instruction number 8 is that it imposed upon the prosecution the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt no more than, “that such assault was made for the purpose of entering said house and molesting, etc.” It is urged that this was misleading because the assault is not the offense denounced by the statute, but the violent opening of the door for the purpose of entering. If this instruction stood alone, unconnected with anything else, there would .be some plausibility in this argument, but the preceding paragraph describes the assault and the violent, breaking, and this instruction refers to what immediately precedes and includes the whole of it. The offense had been therefore clearly defined by the court and the jury could not have been misled by this paragraph, when considered with the other instructions given in connection with it.
Finding no error in the record the judgment of the lower court is affirmed, and it is so ordered.