State v. Cochran

OPINION

SPIESS, Judge, Court of Appeals.

Defendant Cochran was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and this appeal follows. Several grounds are urged for reversal. The decisive issue is whether the trial court committed prejudicial error in refusing to give a requested instruction relating to one’s right to arm himself in anticipation of danger.

Briefly stated, the facts show that during the early morning hours of December 16, 1965, defendant Cochran, the deceased Hays and others were engaged in a poker game at a house on Tennessee Street in Clovis, New Mexico. Immediately following the game the…