Commonwealth v. Tircinski

This trial was upon an indictment for manslaughter, and there was testimony tending to prove an assault by the deceased upon the defendant, immediately before the striking of the fatal blow. “ The defendant offered evidence to show that the general character and habits of the deceased were those of a violent and passionate person, a quarrelsome, fighting man, which character and habits were known to the defendant, as a circumstance tending to show the nature of the provocation under which the defendant acted, and the influence it had on the mind of the defendant, as showing a reasonable…