Pierce v. Commonwealth

Irvine V. Pierce has been convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to fifteen years in the peni*637tentiary. He relies upon the assignment that there was a conviction of murder in the second degree, while he claims that in no event does the evidence justify a conviction of any higher grade of homicide than involuntary manslaughter, for which the extreme punishment is confinement for five years in the penitentiary.

The deceased, Jones, a policeman in the city of Dan-ville, was shot by a spring gun while in the performance of his duty under these circumstances: The accused, who kept a…