State v. Ferguson

HIGGINS, Justice.

The State’s evidence was sufficient to make out a case of murder. The defendant’s evidence tended to support his plea of self-defense. The jury, finding the truth to lie in the middle ground, convicted the defendant of vountary manslaughter. The court imposed a sentence which approached the maximum provided by law for manslaughter. G.S. 14-18.

The defendant’s Assignments of Error Nos. 1 and 2 involve the court’s failure to exclude the testimony of Mrs. Tinsley with reference to the defendant’s action in sharpening his knife and his statement, “That’ll do the work.” The…