Dorsey v. State

Citations

• 34 Tex. 651

Syllabus

<p>1. In the trial of a criminal cause, the jury are to determine from all the evidence, as well that adduced by the accused as that adduced by the State, whether there is such reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt as to entitle him to an acquittal under the provisions of our Uode (Paschal’s Digest, article 3105); aud it is error to so instruct the jury as to preclude them from considering any part of the defendant’s evidence which is pertinent to the inquiry.</p> <p>2. The State was permitted, notwithstanding objections duly interposed, to prove, on a trial for murder, that a friendly intimacy existed between the accused and a sister of the deceased. Reid, that such evidence was irrelevant, and was erroneously allowed.</p> <p>3. If a defendant, on trial for murder, proves threats against his own life, made by the deceased, it is competent for him to also prove- that the deceased was a man of violent or dangerous character, aud such a person as might reasonably be expected to execute his threats.</p>