State v. Hipp

The defendant’s plea of not guilty placed upon the State the burden of proving her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The plea permitted her to justify the killing, if she could, by showing the act was done in self-defense. The evidence for the State was sufficient to go to the jury on the charge of murder in the second degree, but did it not also raise the question of self-defense?

The State introduced the defendant’s admission as evidence in the case. The defendant told her story from the stand. That, too, was evidence in the case. Boiled down to its essentials, her evidence paints this…