State v. Harvey

When a defendant on trial for murder or manslaughter pleads that he did the killing in self-defense, the only question for the jury to decide is: Who was the aggressor in the fatal difficulty? On that question of fact alone depends the defendant's guilt or innocence. Therefore, when the question has been put at issue, as to who was the aggressor in the fatal difficulty, when any evidence at all has been introduced to show that the deceased was the aggressor, proof of previous threats on the part of the deceased is admissible to prove, as far as it may tend to prove, that the deceased was the…