Bonner v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 19 December 1896
• Citation: 38 S.W. 488
• Parties: BONNER v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

38 S.W. 488

BONNER v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

December 19, 1896

Appeal from circuit court, Fayette county.

"Not to be officially reported."

Ed Bonner was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and appeals. Reversed.

George Denny, Jr., for appellant.

W. S Taylor, for the Commonwealth.

WHITE J.

The grand jurors of Fayette county indicted the appellant, Ed Bonner, charging him with the crime of having killed and murdered one Newton Lynch, in the county of Fayette, in July 1896, by shooting and wounding said Lynch with a pistol, from which shooting and wounding the said Lynch died in a day thereafter; and at the September term, 1896, of said court, defendant was tried and convicted of the offense of voluntary manslaughter, and sentenced to be confined in the penitentiary for eight years, and having filed his reasons and moved the court for a new trial, and the court having overruled his motion for a new trial, he has appealed to this court, and asks a reversal, and complains that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the verdict. From an examination of the evidence, as appears in the bill of exceptions, we think that the evidence is amply sufficient to sustain and uphold the verdict, as this court cannot reverse on that ground alone, unless there is no evidence to support the verdict.

Defendant also objected and excepted to the instruction given by court and assigns as reasons because the court selected particular portions of the testimony, and directed the attention of the jury to particular evidence given in the case. The instruction to which defendant refers was numbered 2. The court also gave the jury instructions Nos. 1, 3, 4, and 5; but we think these instructions 1, 3, 4, and 5 were correct, and presented the law, and were not prejudicial to the rights of the accused. No objection to either of these instructions has been pointed out by the able counsel for defendant. Instruction No. 2 is as follows: "If the defendant did shoot and kill Newton Lynch, but, at the time he did so, the defendant believed, and had reasonable grounds to believe, that he was then and there in danger of death or of suffering some serious bodily harm at the hands of said Lynch, and it was necessary, or to the defendant reasonably appeared to be necessary, to shoot said Lynch to avert the danger, or what reasonably appeared to the defendant to be such danger, this was a shooting and killing in self-defense, unless the defendant by his own...