Sikes v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Stanley, Commissioner

Reversing.

A novel question in the law of homicide is presented; one that undoubtedly has been lurking in many cases. It concerns the appropriate instruction on self-defense as the counterpart of an instruction on involuntary manslaughter where the defendant struck the deceased with his fist to meet an assault being made upon him in the same way.

At a Fourth of July picnic in Paducah, the appellant, Elmer Sikes, under the influence of liquor, picked a quarrel and fight with William Hogan. After they had been separated, Bernice Wheatley remonstrated…