Court Opinion

ID: 9761225
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:34:56.010048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:21.198286
License: Public Domain

FINCH, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the principal opinion and file this separate opinion only to point out that manslaughter is defined in § 559.070, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S., and that as this court said in State v. Williams, Mo., 442 S. W.2d 61, 64, “There is but one definition of manslaughter in this state, and that is contained in § 559.070, supra.” The principal opinion holds that Williams was incorrect in holding that there must be proof of facts tending to show want of premeditation and malice to warrant a manslaughter instruction. I do not understand that it intends to hold that Williams is wrong in recognizing that the correct definition of manslaughter is the one set out in § 559.070. Hence, the reference in the principal opinion to the definition of manslaughter contained in State v. Stringer, 357 Mo. 978, 980, 211 S.W.2d 925, 927, should not be construed as establishing a different definition of that offense.