Title: Cooley v. State
Citation: 346 So. 2d 912
Docket Number: 49737
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: June 1, 1977

346 So. 2d 912 (1977) Odell COOLEY v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 49737. Supreme Court of Mississippi. June 1, 1977. Buckley &amp; Ford, Carl D. Ford, Laurel, for appellant. A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Catherine W. Underwood, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before GILLESPIE, C.J., ROBERTSON and LEE, JJ., and PIGOTT, Commissioner. *913 JOE N. PIGOTT, Commissioner for the Court:[1] This is an appeal from a conviction of murder and life sentence. The facts are not set out herein as the case must be reversed and remanded for a new trial. The testimony of the appellant and his witnesses made an issue of fact as to self-defense. Over timely objection of the defendant, the court granted Instruction No. 4 requested by the State, which is as follows: *914 In Pittman v. State, 297 So. 2d 888 (Miss., 1974), the Court considered this same instruction and held it to be reversible error in that form, stating on page 893: See also Newell v. State, 308 So. 2d 71 (Miss., 1975). It is argued that the instruction is not erroneous when read with the other instructions. This argument was also made and answered in Pittman, supra, at page 893, wherein the Court said: The error in Instruction No. 4 is not cured by Instruction No. 8 for the State which, in itself, is erroneous as an abstract statement. Instruction No. 8 follows: We find no merit in the other assignments of error. REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL. GILLESPIE, C.J., PATTERSON and INZER, P. JJ., and SMITH, ROBERTSON, SUGG, WALKER, BROOM and LEE, JJ., concur. [1] pursuant to Chapter 430, Laws of 1976. The above opinion is adopted as the opinion of the Court.