State v. Dart

The defendant was convicted of assault and battery. The indictment charged the defendant with an atrocious assault and battery.

The defendant sought to justify his acts, as done, in self-defense, and to introduce evidence that his assailant was a violent, quarrelsome and dangerous man, and that his reputation for such disposition was known to him. The exclusion of such testimony was manifest error. The question in controversy was whether the defendant acted in self-defense. Upon that question evidence, which tended to show that the defendant had reasonable cause to apprehend great bodily harm…