State v. Jancigaj

The defendant was indicted, tried, and convicted of murder in the first degree for the killing of Mary Smrekar on the 11th day of July, 1908, by shooting her with a pistol, and from the judgment thereon he has appealed.

1. The trial court gave this instruction:

“The law conclusively presumes malice from the deliberate and unlawful use of a deadly weapon causing death within a year.”

The defendant excepted to the instruction and requested the court also to add to and give as a part thereof the following:

“But this conclusive presumption, standing alone, is insufficient to sustain a verdict of…