Durham v. Commonwealth

SIMS, Justice.

George Spillman Durham was tried under an indictment which charged him with the willful murder of Clarence Belcher. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and his punishment fixed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for 11 years. In seeking to reverse the judgment he insists the court erred: 1. In omitting from the voluntary manslaughter instruction the phrase “upon provocation reasonably calculated to excite passion beyond control”; 2. in failing to instruct upon defense of habitation.

Durham operated a taxicab business in the City of Danville. His office was in a small…