State v. Jones

Citations

• 18 Del. 573
• 47 A. 1006
• 2 Penne. 573
• 1900 Del. LEXIS 35

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Assault with Intent to Mu/rder—Homicide—Mu/rder of First Degree—Second Degree—Manslaughter ; How Proved—Reasonable Doubt.</p> <p>1. In a trial for assault with intent to commit murder, it is necessary for the State to satisfy the jury from the evidence in the case, beyond a reasonable doubt, first, that the prisoner committed the assault on the prosecuting witness, and, secondly, that he committed the assault with intent to murder. The intent is as material and essential to be proven as any other ingredient in the offense.</p> <p>2. Assault defined.</p> <p>3. Manslaughter—voluntary and involuntary—defined.</p> <p>4. Murder, and the different degrees thereof, defined.</p> <p>5. Malice is not restricted to spite or malevolence towards the deceased in particular, but, in its legal sense, is understood to mean that general malignity and recklessness of the lives and personal safety of others which proceed from a heart void of of a just sense of social duty and fatally bent on mischief. Malice is implied by law from every deliberate cruel act committed by one person against another, no matter how sudden such act may be.</p> <p>6. The intent to commit murder may be shown by direct evidence of the intent, that is, by the express confession or declaration of the accused; or, if there be no such direct evidence, the intent may be proved by the acts or conduct of the accused, and other circumstances, from which the jury may naturally and reasonably infer the intent charged.</p> <p>7. Reasonable doubt defined.</p>