Babb v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas
Appeal from the District Court of Washington. Tried below before the Hon. I. B. McFarland. This appeal is from a conviction for murder in the second degree, and a term of fifty years in the penitentiary. Milton McGowan, the deceased, was killed in August, 1879. A former appeal in this case is reported in 8 Texas Ct.
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Appeal from the District Court of Washington. Tried below before the Hon. I. B. McFarland. This appeal is from a conviction for murder in the second degree, and a term of fifty years in the penitentiary. Milton McGowan, the deceased, was killed in August, 1879. A former appeal in this case is reported in 8 Texas Ct. App. 173. Sarah McGowan, mother of the deceased, testified for the State that on the Wednesday night before the killing the defendant came to her house, and she told him to go away, and not to return to her house again. He returned on the next night, and he and the deceased then…
1Opinion of the CourtWillson, J.
The defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree and his punishment assessed at confinement in the penitentiary for fifty years. The court below in its charge' to the jury entirely omitted to instruct the jury as to the meaning of malice.
There can be no murder without malice, and in all trials for murder, and assaults with intent to commit murder, the court in its charge must define and explain the term malice. This rule has been established by the repeated ' decisions of the Supreme Court of this State, and by this . court, and has in no single instance been departed from or…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Villareal v. StateTexas Supreme Court · 1861