Davis v. United States

Appellant Davis was convicted of manslaughter while armed 1 and of carrying a pistol without a license, D.C. Code § 22-3204 (1981). He urges this court to reverse his manslaughter conviction because the trial judge refused to include in reinstruc-tions to the jury a reminder that self-defense is a legal excuse to a charge of homicide. We affirm.

There is no dispute about the propriety of the contents of the original instructions, which included inter alia the elements of murder in the second degree and voluntary manslaughter while armed, as well as an explanation of the law of self-defense.…