Gipson v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Chief Justice Settle

Affirming.

The appellant, Van Gipson, insists that he was illegally convicted in the court below of voluntary manslaughter, under an indictment charging him with the murder of Elmer James, and his punishment fixed jat confinement in the penitentiary twenty-one years, and by this appeal seeks a reversal of the judgment entered upon the verdict, of'the jury.

James was shot in the back and instantly killed, and appellant admitted on the trial that he killed him, but claimed that in taking his life he acted in self-defense. The Commonwealth’s theory is…