Cooper v. State

BRICKEN, Presiding Judge.

Upon an indictment charging him with the offense of murder in the second degree, this appellant was put to trial and was convicted of the offense of manslaughter in the first degree; his punishment was fixed at five years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary.

There is but slight conflict in the evidence. Appellant voluntarily stated that he killed Ellis Colvin by shooting him with a gun. In each instance, however, when making such statements he insisted that he shot him in defense of his own life, and that Col vin, at the time the fatal shot was fired, was reaching for…