Allen v. State

The defendant, Ira Allen, was indicted for the offense of murder. Upon the trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty, with a recommendation that the defendant be confined in the penitentiary for life. A motion for a new trial was made upon several grounds, and to the order overruling the motion defendant excepted.

1. In the first ground of the amendment to the motion for a new trial error is assigned upon the following charge of the court: “While mere words, threats, menaces, or contemptuous gestures will not constitute equivalent circumstances within the meaning of the section of the code…