Pennington v. Commonwealth

STEWART, Judge.

John M. Pennington was convicted in the Perry Circuit Court of the crime of wilful murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. On this appeal he argues that the trial court erred to the prejudice of his substantial rights in failing to give appropriate instructions on voluntary manslaughter and on self-defense. The trial court gave only a wilful murder instruction.

The evidence shows that on January 2, 1960, at about ten or eleven in the evening, appellant and three friends were sitting in a booth in a beer tavern located in Perry County near the Leslie County line. Raymond…