Wadlington v. State

Citations

• 19 Tex. Ct. App. 266
• 1885 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 186

Syllabus

<p>!• Manslaughter —“ Adequate Cause.”— The four illustrations of “ adequate cause ” set out in article 497 of the Penal Code are not the only ones which will reduce a homicide from murder to manslaughter. On the contrary, it had been laid down as a correct rule that “ any condition or circumstance which is capable of creating (and does create) sudden passion, such as anger, rage, sudden resentment or terror, rendering the mind incapable of cool reflection, whether accompanied by bodily pain or not, is adequate cause.”</p> <p>2. Same.— It is positively declared by article 492 of the Penal Code that no verbal provocation will justify an assault and battery; and article 596 of the same Code is equally positive in the declaration that “insulting words or gestures, or an assault and battery so slight as to show no intention to inflict pain or injury, or an injury to property, unaccompanied by violence, are not adequate causes ” sufficient to reduce a homicide from murder to manslaughter. But held that, though no one of these causes, alone and independent of the others, can be deemed adequate cause to reduce a homicide from murder to manslaughter, yet, if they all combine and exist conjointly with each other, they may, thus united, become such adequate cause. See the opinion in extenso on the question.</p> <p>3. Same — Evidence — Charge op the Court — Case Stated.— In a trial for assault with intent to murder it was in proof that C., the alleged injured party, charged the defendant with improper relations with his, C.’s, wife, . and that the defendant was claiming for himself the paternity of Mrs. C.’s child; which charges were emphatically denied by the defendant and were vehemently reasserted by C., who thereupon seized the defendant by his collar and shook him, when the defendant pushed C. off and patted him on the shoulder; that C. then ordered defendant to keep his hands off, and was still cursing defendant when defendant fired upon and shot C. through an arm. These