People v. Dice

Citations

• 120 Cal. 189
• 52 P. 477
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 734

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Homicide—Self-defense—Appeal—Review of Evidence— Conflict as to Firing of First Shot.—A verdict oí conviction of murder will not be set aside for insufficiency of the evidence to support it, notwithstanding a strong showing of self-defense on the part of the defendant, where the strain of the case comes upon the firing of the first shot, and there is conflicting evidence on that subject, and sufficient legal evidence appears to have justified the jury in finding that the defendant fired the fatal shot first, and that the shot of the deceased at the defendant followed afterward.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence—Dispute as to Water—Threat of Defendant—Immaterial Conversation.—Where the controversy which led to the homicide related to the use of water through a ditch, which was disputed between the defendant and the deceased, and which the deceased had refused to allow the defendant to take, evidence of a threat of the defendant that he would have the water or he would kill the deceased, is admissible; and the fact that much of the conversation in which the threat occurred relates to the water question, which the witness did not remember or could not detail in substance, is immaterial, where it is not made to appear that he did not give the substance of all the language used by the defendant in uttering the threat.</p> <p>Id.—Declaration of Defendant after Homicide—Firing of First Shot— Res Gestie.—A declaration made by the defendant in his own interest, subsequent to the homicide, and after he had given himself up to the constable, to the effect that the deceased had fired the first shot before he (defendant) had fired, is no part of the res gestae, and is inadmissible.</p> <p>Id.—Immaterial Evidence at Preliminary Examination—Improper Impeachment.—Where a witness, upon cross-examination, testified that he could not remember how many cows he was milking upon the evening of the shooting, and admitted that his recollection was fresher on that subject at the prelimina