State v. Nelson

Citations

• 65 Kan. 689
• 70 P. 632
• 1902 Kan. LEXIS 114

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Murder — Self-defense—JErroneous Instruction. On a trial for murder, where the defendant relied on the defense of self-defense, an instruction stating, in substance, that if the defendant shot and killed his assailant under the reasonable belief that he was in immediate danger of death or great bodily harm at the hands of his assailant, the jury would be justified in finding the defendant not guilty, is errotieous, as the circumstances and conditions stated made it a case of justifiable homicide; and there should have been a clear and unequivocal direction to acquit the defendant, instead of a permission to do so, or a statement that a finding of not guilty was justifiable or defensible.</p>