People v. Marshall

Citations

• 120 Cal. 70
• 52 P. 129
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 713

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Homicibb—Instruction as to Degrees—Reasonable Doubt —Construction of Charge—Duty of Defendant.—Upon the trial of a defendant accused of murder in the first degree, an instruction that, if the evidence warrant it, the jury may find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, or manslaughter, and should the jury entertain a reasonable doubt as.to which of the grades of crime named the defendant may be guilty of, if any, they must acquit him of the higher offense; and, should the jury have a reasonable doubt as to the defendant being guilty of the two degrees of .murder and manslaughter also, they must acquit, could not be understood by the jury as instructing them to convict of murder in the second degree if they were in doubt as to either of the three grades; and if the defendant desired to have the instruction made more explicit on that point, it was his duty to ask that it be made so, and where, considering the entire charge of the court, there could have been no prejudice to the defendant from the language complained of, it is no ground of reversal.</p>