Court Opinion

ID: 9824946
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 11:46:40.346921+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:40:16.335765
License: Public Domain

SAMFORD, J.
The defendant was indicted on a charge of murder in the second degree, and on his trial was convicted of manslaughter. After conviction defendant made a motion for new trial on the ground that the verdict was contrary to the great weight of the evidence. This motion was overruled, and it is here insisted that in this ruling the trial court erred.
 The facts are without dispute that deceased was killed by defendant by shooting him four times with a pistol, and the excuse offered was that the defendant shot in self-defense. This placed upon the defendant the burden of introducing evidence sustaining this plea to such an extent as to raise in the minds of the jury a reasonable doubt of guilt. There was evidence tending to prove this, but there was also evidence from which the jury could conclude that there was no impending necessity to take the life of deceased, in the absence of which defendant could not sustain his plea. Under the well-known authority of Cobb v. Malone, 92 Ala. 630, 9 So. 738, we cannot hold that the trial court erred in overruling the motion.
 On cross-examination of defendant, while he was being examined as a witness, the solicitor asked: “Didn’t he then want more whiskey and didn’t you tell him that he already owed you four dollars, out there in the barn?” This was relevant as a part of the res geste, as tending- to prove who brought on the difficulty. The question being answered in the negative was also without prejudicial injury.
We find no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.