Legal Opinion

Patterson v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court

Decided March 15, 1898PublishedCited by 4 opinions

Prom the circuit court of Simpson county. HoN. A. G.' Mayers, Judge. The opinion sufficiently states the nature of the evidence.

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Prom the circuit court of Simpson county. HoN. A. G.' Mayers, Judge. The opinion sufficiently states the nature of the evidence. The instructions referred to therein are as follows: “3. The law will not permit a man to defend his life from a danger he has himself unlawfully provoked or invited; and.to purposely kill in defense of life from a danger he has so invited or provoked, is murder, and not manslaughter. ‘ ‘ 4. This killing of Brinson by Patterson, for which you are now trying Patterson, if excused or justified by the law at all, is solely justified or excused on the ground of…

1Opinion of the CourtWhitfield, J.

The third instruction for the state is fatally erroneous. It practically amounted to an instruction by the court, as matter of law, that the defendant was estopped to set up self-defense. It is too narrow altogether. It is not true that the right of self-defense can never arise, at any stage of a difficulty, when one is defending himself against dangers of any kind that he may have unlawfully provoked. The fourth, fifth', and seventh charges are all erroneous, because there is no evidence that Patterson did provoke the difficulty, except the mere testimony that he went out with his loaded…

2Cited by4 opinions

  1. State v. BowyerWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1957
  2. Vance v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1938
  3. Lee v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1925
  4. Echols v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1911

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