People v. Angeles

Citations

• 61 Cal. 188
• 1882 Cal. LEXIS 575

Syllabus

<p>Instructions—Reasonable Doubt.—The Court below charged the jury: “You must be satisfied that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. As I have often stated to juries before, a reasonable doubt does not mean every possible doubt; it must-be something reasonable, and that can not give any satisfactory solution of the question except upon the reasonable basis that the defendant may be innocent. That is what reasonable doubt is.”</p> <p>jHeld: The instruction is meaningless, and could not have conveyed to the jury any ideas which might mislead them.</p> <p>In Self-defense—Justification—Apparent Necessity.—The Court further charged the jury: “The defendant would be justified in using a deadly weapon if the prosecuting witness was attempting to commit any rape or to have intercourse with the defendant except by consent. Whether that was the fact or not, you must determine from the evidence in the case. A mere slap by the prosecuting witness, or attempted familiarity, without there was danger of its going any further, is not sufficient for her to use a deadly weapon or to make an attack of this kind. The mere fact that the prosecuting witness may have slapped her in the face without doing any great bodily harm, or have attempted familiarities which she did not like, would not be sufficient, unless there was danger of the attempt going further or an attempt at intercourse without her consent. It is for you to say whether there was any probability of that from the evidence in the case.”</p> <p>Held: This instruction does not exclude the idea of a duty on the part of the jury to find the defendant justified if as a reasonable person she believed from the circumstances appearing that the prosecuting witness «would rape her unless she prevented it by the use of a deadly weapon. The doctrine that appearances may justify a reasonable person in resisting by all necessary force what such person believes to be an attempt at felony is superadded by the law to the right