Potts v. Commonwealth

The plaintiff in error, Shirley Potts, brings error to a judgment of conviction of murder in the second degree, for which he was sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary for the term of eighteen years.

At the instance of the Commonwealth’s attorney, the jury were instructed as follows:

First. “The court instructs the jury that if they believe from the evidence that the Commonwealth has proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the deceased was killed by the accused with a deadly weapon in his previous possession, and that the accused relies upon the defense of self-defense to excuse the act,…