Pridgen v. State

Citations

• 31 Tex. 420

Syllabus

<p>Article 612 of the Penal Code reads as follows: “Where a defendant accused of murder seeks to justify himself on the ground of threats against his own life, he may be permitted to introduce evidence of the threats made, but the same shall not be regarded as affording a justification for the offense, unless it be shown that at the time of the homicide the person killed by some act then done manifested an intention to execute the threat so made. In every instance where proof of threats has been made it shall be competent to introduce evidence of the general character of the deceased. Such evidence shall extend only to an inquiry as to whether the deceased was a man of violent or dangerous character, or a man of kind and inoffensive disposition, or whether he was such a person as might reasonably be expected to execute a threat made.” (Paschal’s Dig., Art. 2270, Note 672.) The court below held, that there must be a predicate proved, which establishes that at the time of the homicide the deceased must have done some act manifesting an intention to carry the supposed threats into execution, and that such acts were questions of law for the court, and not of fact for the jury. This was error.</p> <p>Whether or not there be any evidence is a question for the judge; its sufficiency for the purpose relied on is for the jury.</p> <p>The whole object of proving threats is to ascertain the mind of the prisoner at the very moment of the commission of the homicide; every circumstance which tends to prove this is important, because a murder is a matter of intent, and cannot exist without malice.</p> <p>Whether or not the threats are sufficient to establish reasonable fear is a question for the jury. (Rector v. The People, 19 Wend., 589; Howell v. Georgia, 5 Ga, 54.)</p> <p>To explain the circumstances which surround the parties it would seem that things antecedent may be proved.</p> <p>In civil cases the court may review the whole record and affirm the judgment if the whole fact