Source: http://academy.lawofselfdefense.com/law_case/ruth-v-state-581-p-2d-919-ok-ct-app-1978/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 03:51:26+00:00

Document:
Kenneth Wayne RUTH, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.
Robert N. McIlroy, Norman, for appellant.
Kenneth Wayne Ruth, pro se.
Larry Derryberry, Atty. Gen., Robert L. McDonald, Asst. Atty. Gen., Donnie G. Pope, Legal Intern, for appellee.
Appellant, Kenneth Wayne Ruth, was charged in the District Court, Cleveland County, Case No. CRF-76-149, with the offense of Murder in the Second Degree, in violation of 21 O.S.Supp. 1973, § 701.2. He was tried before a jury and convicted of the lesser included offense of Manslaughter in the First Degree, 21 O.S. 1971, § 711. His punishment was fixed by the jury at four (4) years under the direction and control of the Department of Corrections of the State of Oklahoma in accordance with 21 O.S. 1971, § 715. From said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.
The State’s theory of the case was that the killing of the deceased was premeditated and intentional, that the defendant provoked the attack by the deceased by retiring to his room and returning with a loaded pistol, and that he therefore could not claim that the killing was either justifiable homicide or in self-defense. The defendant’s theory was that he fired the four shots at the deceased in necessary self-defense and that he had not intended to kill or injure the deceased. The defendant testified that he had brought the gun into the room where the deceased was, intending to persuade the deceased to leave the rooming house.
The instruction in the instant case is more precise than that in Stumblingbear. Therefore, we hold that the instruction requiring that the misdemeanor in a misdemeanor manslaughter case be “the contributing cause of the shooting of the deceased, and without which he would not have died,” while not in legal language, is an adequate instruction on proximate cause.
This Court has always held that the right of self-defense cannot be invoked by an aggressor or by one who voluntarily enters into a difficulty armed with a deadly weapon, no matter how great his or per peril becomes. McDaniel v. State, 8 Okl.Cr. 209, 127 P. 358 (1912); Price v. State, Okl. Cr., 541 P.2d 373 (1975). When the facts of the case demand it, this general statement of the law must be supplemented with instructions on such issues as withdrawal by an aggressor, but this statement is the core of the law of self-defense. Therefore, to the extent that Swan is inconsistent with that rule in that it requires that a party must be an aggressor or provoke a difficulty with the intent of killing the other person in order to be deprived of the right of self-defense that case is expressly overruled. The instruction given by the trial court in the instant case fairly and clearly states the law of self-defense.
The defendant’s final assignment of error is that his “demurrer to the evidence,” more properly termed a motion for directed verdict, should have been granted on the ground that the State failed to prove the death of the individual named as the victim in the information. Because the information alleged the death of Jeffrey D. Windham and the autopsy report lists the victim’s name as Jeffrey Windham, the defendant argues that the State failed to prove the corpus delicti.
The discrepancy in spelling is a mere clerical error. As we observed in Hudson v. State, 78 Okl.Cr. 160, 145 P.2d 774 (1944), this Court will not lend its approval to uphold extremely technical propositions of error which tend to obstruct and defeat the administration of justice.
In his petition for rehearing, defendant’s counsel called to the attention of this Court our erroneous statement in the original opinion which has this date been withdrawn and this opinion substituted therefor. After carefully considering the brief filed by counsel in support of the petition for rehearing, we are of the opinion that said petition for rehearing should be and the same is, hereby, DENIED.
The defendant has filed a pro se petition for rehearing attacking the competency of counsel. Re-examination of the trial court record and briefs filed by counsel fortifies our original conclusion that Robert N. McIlroy ably and diligently represented the defendant in the trial court and on appeal. The pro se petition for rehearing is accordingly found to be without merit and is, therefore, DENIED.
The judgment and sentence appealed from is AFFIRMED, and the Clerk of this Court is directed to issue the mandate forthwith.

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