Brannin v. State

The appellant was convicted of manslaughter.

At the request of the State, the court instructed the jury as follows:

“It is immaterial what attack William Guess had .formerly made upon Callie Sprague or what threat he had made, if at the time of the firing of the shot he was not then engaged in an attack upon Callie Sprague, from which it reasonably appeared to the defendant that Callie Sprague was in danger of déath or great bodily harm, as the defendant had no right to shoot to revenge some past attack, or to prevent a future attack then being threatened by mere words.”

This is an erroneous…