Boddy v. State

Citations

• 14 Tex. Ct. App. 528
• 1883 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 207

Syllabus

<p>1. Murder—Self-Defense—Charge of the Court.—The law of self-defense, when invoked by the proof, should be given to the jury in plain and intelligible language, without superfluous verbiage. Learned abstractions are not the means best calculated to make it comprehensible by the jury.</p> <p>8. Same—Case Stated.—In a trial for murder, it was in proof that the killing was the culminating incident of a quarrel between the deceased and the defendant, and there was evidence that when the fatal shot was fired by the latter the deceased was advancing upon him in a meancing manner, and was extending his hand towards a butcher knife lying on a table which stood near the parties. In effect, the charge of the court instructed the jury that such movements of the deceased, if proved, amounted to no more than mere acts of preparation, and could not avail as a defense. Held, erroneous. The rule applicable to the evidence was that prescribed by the Penal Code in section 2 of Article 570, and the charge of the court was calculated to convince the jury that the conduct of the deceased could not warrant apprehension by the defendant of the loss of his life, or of some serious bodily harm.</p> <p>8. Charge oe the Court.—The design of instructions to the jury is to inform them respecting the law applicable to the particular case on trial, and the more exactly the charge of the court is adapted to the very case on trial, the more liable will the jury be to arrive at a correct verdict.</p>