State v. Harrigan

Citations

• 14 Del. 369
• 9 Houston 369
• 31 A. 1052
• 1881 Del. LEXIS 1

Syllabus

<p>Murder-—Defense—Drunkenness—Insanity— Cause for setting aside verdict.</p> <p>The continued visits of another to one’s house after he has been forbidden to come there, or the belief or suspicion that he was guilty of adulterous intercourse with the wife of the occupant of the house, or odious comparisons made by him or an offer to fight, is no justifiable provocation for the act of shooting the intruder.</p> <p>Evidence of the mental condition of the prisoner several months before the homicide committed by him is part of the history of the case and may be taken into account by the jury when considering the defense of insanity.</p> <p>Drunkenness is no excuse for crime ; but actual insanity produced by continued dissipation is a good defense, as insanity from any other cause, and will relieve the prisoner from criminal responsibility.</p> <p>In law the sanity of the accused is presumed and so continues until rebutted by proof to the contrary satisfactory to the jury.</p> <p>Every irregularity which would subject a juror to censure-7-such as the drinking of ardent spirits, or separating without permission, or the approach of or conversations with strangers,—there beingmo reason to suspect that the irregularity had any influence on the final verdict, will not be sufficient grounds for setting aside the verdict.</p>