State v. . Smith

The defendant killed one J. 0. Singleton by striking him' on the head with a baseball bat. The two men had been engaged in a fight, and the defendant contended that he slew the deceased in his own proper self-defense. The jury convicted the defendant of manslaughter, which is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice and without premeditation and deliberation. S. v. Baldwin, 152 N. C., 822.

Any instrument which is likely to produce death or great bodily harm, under the circumstances of its use, is properly denominated a deadly weapon. S. v. Craton, 28 N. C., p. 179. The deadly…