Leonard v. People

Defendant is here by way of writ of error from a sentence of three to five years for voluntary manslaughter. He assigns as error certain instructions which the trial court gave and certain instructions which it refused to give.

Pertinent parts of the defendant’s version of the events leading up to the homicide in question are as follows: Defendant had known Lester Reeves, the victim, for five or six years. Their wives had become friends in Denver and from this the husbands became friends. The Leonards had two teenage children and both families visited back and forth even after the Reeves moved…