Talbert v. State

Citations

• 8 Tex. Ct. App. 316

Syllabus

<p>1. Murder—Proof of Threats. — Threats made hy the deceased to take the life of a person other than the defendant could not justify the latter in taking the life of the deceased, and therefore the exclusion of evidence of such threats was not error. Otherwise, if the threats were to take the life of the defendant himself, and the deceased, when killed by the defendant, manifested hy some act an intention to execute his threats.</p> <p>2. Charge of the Court. —In a trial for murder, there was a conflict of the evidence as to whether the deceased, when shot by the defendant, was advancing on the latter with a drawn knife and in a menacing manner. The charge of the court instructed for conviction in case the jury believed the State’s evidence which negatived the justification, but wholly ignored the converse hypothesis of the defence and its evidence in support of it. Held, in view of the state of the proof, that the instruction was calculated to mislead the jury to the prejudice of the defendant, and was therefore erroneous though not excepted to at the trial.</p>