State v. Patterson

EXUM, Justice.

The parties stipulated at trial that the deceased, Michael Millsap, “died March 2, 1976, as a proximate result of gunshot wounds inflicted upon him by the defendant Gregory Dean Patterson.” The defense was self-defense. Defendant has presented only one assignment of error. It questions the correctness of Judge Snepp’s instructions to the jury regarding the inferences of malice and unlawfulness which may arise upon proof that defendant intentionally inflicted a wound upon deceased which caused death. Disagreeing with the conclusion of the Court of Appeals, we find error in this…