State v. Williams

Citations

• 36 Wash. 143
• 78 P. 780
• 1904 Wash. LEXIS 532

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law. — Evidence of Identity — Sufficiency—Question for Jury. In a prosecution for assault with intent to murder, in which the prosecuting witness positively identifies the prisoner as the person who shot him, the question of identity was for the jury, although the prosecuting witness stated shortly after the shooting, upon accusing the prisoner, who thereupon became angry, that he might have been mistaken as it was dark.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Assault with Intent to Kill — Intent not Presumed When Death Does not Result — Instructions. Upon a prosecution for assault with intent to kill, in which it appears that the prosecuting witness was shot in the hip, and death did not result, the intent to kill being an essential fact to be established by evidence and which can not be presumed as a matter of law, it is error to instruct that every person is presumed to intend the natural consequences of his acts, and that such presumption will always prevail unless the jury entertain a reasonable doubt as to the intent.</p> <p>Same. For the same reason it is error to instruct that such shooting would have been murder in the first degree in case death had resulted, if the shot had been fired in the intent to perpretate a robbery.</p> <p>Appeal and Error — Review—Trial—Conflicting Instructions— Curing Error. Where, of two conflicting instructions, it is impossible to determine which one the jury adopted, an erroneous instruction will not be held cured by a subsequent one correctly stating the law governing the subject.</p>