Darby v. State

1. An instruction to the jury, defining voluntary manslaughter, which failed to advise them that, to constitute the crime, the killing must be unlawful, was erroneous, since an essential element of the offense was thereby eliminated.

2. In the absence of a timely written request, it was not error for the trial judge to omit all reference to the theory that the killing was purely accidental, since that theory was clearly suggested only by the statement of the accused.

3. A charge that “the theory of the law, in admitting dying declarations as evidence, is that a person would be just as sure…