Watkins v. State

A verdict was returned finding the defendant guilty, and recommending him to the mercy of the court, under an indictment against Ed. Watkins, alias Fluellen, charging him with the murder of Guy Parris by shooting him with a pistol. The exception is to a judgment refusing a new trial.

Immediately after charging the law of justifiable homicide, the judge, applying it concretely to the defendant’s theory of the case deduced from certain evidence and the defendant’s statement before the jury, charged: “If you should believe, gentlemen, that without this defendant having attempted to commit any…