Kessel v. State

Undercofler, Presiding Justice.

Emory W. Kessel was convicted of the November 30, 1974, murder of Bill Sidney Simpson and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1. The trial court did not err in failing to charge the jury without request on the law of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The defense was based solely on accident. The defendant testified that he used a tactic that he had learned in the army, that he attempted to go up under the victim’s arm to drive it upward and bring the weapon down, and that it accidentally discharged. This evidence did not raise an issue of voluntary or…