People v. Chew Sing Wing

Citations

• 88 Cal. 268
• 25 P. 1099
• 1891 Cal. LEXIS 682

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Homicide—Instruction — Charge as to Matters of Tact — Constitutional Law. — Upon the trial of a defendant charged with murder, an instruction to the jury that if the testimony is believed it would undoubtedly make out a case by the prosecution of murder in the first degree, and that it tended to show that the murder was willful, deliberate, and premeditated, is a charge to the jury as to matters of fact, in contravention of the constitution.</p> <p>Id. —Degree of Murder — Province of Jury — Questions of Tact and Law. — It is peculiarly a question of fact within the province of the jury to determine whether the killing was perpetrated with the deliberation and premeditation necessary to constitute it murder in the first degree, unless the facts in evidence show that the murder was committed by such means as are, by the terms of the statute, made conclusive evidence of murder in the first degree.</p> <p>Id. — Appeal — Weight of Testimony. — Where the charge to the jury invades its province in determining a question of fact as to the degree of the murder, the appellate court will not weigh the testimony for the purpose of determining whether the verdict of the jury is right upon the evidence.</p> <p>Id. — Error not Cured. — An error in an instruction as to the degree of the murder is not cured by a subsequent statement of the court to the effect that the jury should utterly disregard any intimation of his opinion as to the testimony.</p>