Wallace v. United States

Citations

• 162 U.S. 466
• 16 S. Ct. 859
• 40 L. Ed. 1039
• 1896 U.S. LEXIS 2224

Syllabus

<p>W. lived on a tract of land next to one owned and occupied by bis father in law Z., concerning the boundary between which there was a dispute between them. While W. was ploughing his land, Z-, being then under the influence of liquor, entered upon the disputed tract and brought a quantity of posts there, for the purpose of erecting a fence on the line which he claimed. W. ordered him off, and continued his ploughing. He did not leave, and W. after reaching his boundary with the plough, unhitched his horses and put them in the barn. In about half an hour he returned with a gun, and an altercation ensued, in the course of which W. was stabbed by a son of Z. and Z. was killed by a shot from W.’s gun.. W. was indicted for murder. On the trial evidence was offered in defence, and excluded, of threats of Z. to kill W.; and W. himself was put upon the stand and, after stating that he did not feel safe without some protection against Z., and that Z. had made a hostile demonstration against him, was asked, from that demonstration what he believed Z. was about to do ? This question was ruled out. Held, that if W. believed and had reasonable ground for the belief that he was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm from Z. at the moment he fired, and would not have fired but for such belief, and if that belief, founded on reasonable ground, might in any view the jury could properly take of the circumstances surrounding the killing, have excused his act or reduced the crime from murder to manslaughter, then the evidence in respect of Z.’s threats was relevant and it was error to exclude it ; and it was also error to refuse to allow the question to be put to W. as to-his belief based on the demonstration, on Z.’s part to which he testified.</p> <p>.Where a difficulty is intentionally brought on for the purpose of killing the deceased! the fact of imminent danger to the accused constitutes no de-fence-; but -where the accused embarks in a quarrel with no felonious inte