Jones v. Commonwealth

Lawrence James Jones was convicted of second degree murder for the homicide of Lawyer Cook and sentenced to twenty years’ confinement in the penitentiary.

The trial was had before a jury, and accused undertook to show that the killing was (a) by misadventure and accidental, or (b) done in self-defense.

The court instructed the jury upon the theory of accidental killing but refused to give any instruction embodying the law of self-defense, and that ruling is assigned as error.

Cook died on January 8, 1952, from a pistol bullet wound inflicted on January 5, 1952. The autopsy disclosed that he had…