Ainsworth v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas
Appeal from the District Court of Houston. Tried below before the Hon. W. D. Wood. The indictment charged the appellant with the murder of Alford Lenard, by shooting him with a pistol, December 23, 1878. The jury found the appellant guilty of 'murder in the second degree, and assessed his punishment at a term of nineteen years in the penitentiary.
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Appeal from the District Court of Houston. Tried below before the Hon. W. D. Wood. The indictment charged the appellant with the murder of Alford Lenard, by shooting him with a pistol, December 23, 1878. The jury found the appellant guilty of 'murder in the second degree, and assessed his punishment at a term of nineteen years in the penitentiary. The evidence, both' for the State and the defence, concurred in proving the fact of the shooting of Lenard by the appellant, at a neighbor’s house, in the night of December 23, 1878. Lenard died two days afterwards in consequence of the wound, which…
1Opinion of the CourtClark, J.
This prosecution was for murder, and, upon the trial below, the evidence was of a conflicting nature and tending to establish totally different conclusions. If the *534witnesses for the State testified truthfully, the homicide was unprovoked; and if some of those for the defence were to be believed, the defendant had sufficient cause to resort to his right of self-defence. In the concluding paragraph of an able and learned charge, the court gave this instruction : —
“ The burden of proof is on the State to satisfy your minds beyond a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt of some offence, before…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Horbach v. StateTexas Supreme Court · 1875
- Perry v. StateTexas Supreme Court · 1876