"(2)
In deciding on the guilt or innocence of defendant, if you
believe from the evidence that he did not fight willingly
and that he was free from fault in bringing on the
difficulty, and could not retreat without having increased
his peril, and come to consider whether the defendant was
actually in danger of death or great bodily harm, or
whether the circumstances surrounding him were such as to
create in the mind of a reasonable man, and did create in
the mind of defendant, the honest belief that he was in
danger of death or great bodily harm, you should determine
what an ordinary and reasonable man might have fairly
inferred from all the facts and circumstances by which the
evidence showed that the defendant was at the time
surrounded, and in so doing must not try him in the light
of subsequent developments; nor must they require of him
the same cool judgment that the jury can now bring to bear
on the occurrence. The jury must put themselves as far as
possible in the defendant's place, and then judge
whether the danger was apparent, or should have been
considered apparent, by a man of ordinary caution and
prudence in like conditions. The danger to life or great
bodily harm need not have been real, present, or urgent at
the very moment of the killing, but only apparently so. The
question is, Was the danger apparently so imminently
present at the time of the killing that a reasonable man
and a prudent man situated as Griffin was would believe
that it was necessary to kill in order to avoid the loss of
life or to prevent great bodily harm; and if, from all the
evidence in the case, the jury have a reasonable doubt
whether such was the case when the defendant killed Hughey
then if you believe defendant is free from fault in
bringing on the difficulty, and did not fight willingly
and could not retreat without increasing his peril, you
must acquit him.
"(3)
There is evidence in the case tending to show that the
defendant was in imminent danger, real or apparent, of death
or great bodily harm from Hughey at the time he fired; and if
you believe from the evidence that he was in such imminent
danger, real or apparent, and that he was free from fault in
bringing on the difficulty, and could not retreat without
increasing his peril, and did not fight willingly, you must
acquit him.
"(4)
If the jury believe from the evidence that the defendant had
reasonable apprehension of great personal violence, involving
imminent peril to life or limb, then he had a right to
protect himself by taking the life of Jeffie Hughey, if such
protection could not otherwise be procured, and they must
acquit the defendant unless they find that the defendant was
not free from fault in bringing on the difficulty.
"(5)
If the jury have a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the
act was done maliciously, then they must acquit the
defendant.
"(6)
There is evidence in this case tending to show that the
defendant at the time of the shot could not retreat without
increasing his peril; and if you believe from the evidence
that he could not retreat without increasing his peril, and
was free from fault in bringing on the difficulty, and was in
imminent danger, real or apparent, of death or great bodily
harm from Hughey at the time, you must acquit him.
"(7)
If you believe from the evidence that the defendant
approached the deceased in a peaceable manner, and in a
peaceable manner asked him if he knew anything about the
letter which has been offered in evidence as the letter shown
the deceased by the defendant at the time of the killing, I
charge you that this would not put the defendant at fault in
bringing on the difficulty.
"(8)
I charge you that there is evidence in this case that it was
communicated to Griffin before the killing that Hughey had
made threats against the defendant's life. This evidence
goes to aid you in determining, if you believe it, whether
the defendant or the deceased was the aggressor, and whether
reasonably entertained the honest belief that he was in
imminent danger of death or great bodily harm; and if you
believe that such threats were communicated to the deceased
before the killing, and contributed to creating in the mind
of the defendant the reasonable and honest belief that he was
in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, if he did
entertain such belief, and if a reasonable man, situated as
the defendant was, would have entertained such belief, it is
immaterial whether such threats were so or not.
"(9)
I charge you, gentlemen of the jury, that there is evidence
tending to show that the defendant was free from fault in
bringing on the difficulty; and if you believe from the
evidence that he was free from fault in bringing on the
difficulty, and was at the time he shot in imminent danger of
death or great bodily harm from Hughey, and could not retreat
without increasing his peril, and did not fight willingly
then, I charge you, you must acquit the defendant.
"(10)
I charge you, gentlemen of the jury, that there is evidence
in this case tending to prove that the defendant acted in
self-defense, as I have defined self-defense to you in my
general charge; and if, after considering all the evidence in
the case, you have a reasonable doubt as to whether the
defendant acted in self-defense, as I have defined it to you
in my general charge, you must acquit him.
"(11)
I charge you, gentlemen of the jury, that the design, real or
apparent, to kill the defendant, or to do him some great
personal injury, and the danger, real or apparent, of the
execution of such design by the deceased to cause the
killing, must be manifest by some overt act, conduct, or
behavior of deceased at the time of the killing, indicating
to the defendant, situated as he was, such design and danger
but what shows such design, real or apparent, or such danger,
real or apparent, are not matters of law for the court to
decide, but are matters of fact, to be determined by the jury
according to all the evidence in the case. No exact
definition of an overt act can be given. It may be a motion,
a gesture, conduct or demonstration, or anything else which
evidences reasonably a present design to take the life of the
defendant, or do him great bodily harm. Trifles, light as air
when viewed alone, may become fraught with deadly meaning
when viewed in connection with all the preceding facts
disclosed and with all the evidence in the case.
"(12)
I charge you, gentlemen of the jury, that there is no
evidence in this case tending to prove the general bad
character of John Griffin, and in the absence of such
evidence the law presumes that he is a man of general good
character, and that the presumption of a good character goes
with him to the jury as a matter of evidence, and may be
considered by you, in connection with all the other evidence
in the case. It may be sufficient to create in your mind a
reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt requiring his
acquittal.
"(13)
If the jury believe from the evidence that on the day of the
fatal difficulty the defendant approached the deceased in a
peaceable manner for the purpose of adjusting or explaining
the previous difficulties, or getting such explanation from
the deceased, and for such purpose showed him the letter
admitted in evidence in this cause, and thereupon there arose
a controversy between the deceased and the defendant, and the
defendant was without fault in bringing on the difficulty,
and did not fight willingly, and that the deceased made a
demonstration such as to create in the mind of a reasonable
man the honest belief that defendant was in imminent danger
of death or great bodily harm, and that it was necessary to
shoot in order to protect himself from such danger, even
though such danger was not real, but was apparent only, and
there was no reasonable way of escape or retreat without
increasing his peril, and it did create such honest belief in
the mind of defendant, even though such danger was not real,
but only apparent, and that there was no reasonable way of
escape or retreat without increasing his peril, and that
thereupon under such circumstances the defendant shot and
killed the deceased, then the defendant would not be guilty.
"(14)
If the jury believe from the evidence that Jeffie Hughey was
a man who had the general character in the community in which
he lived as that of a quarrelsome, violent, and turbulent
man, and as that of a man who went habitually armed, and for
two or three years prior to the fatal difficulty he had
numerous difficulties with the defendant, and made numerous
threats against the defendant to take his life, or to do him
great bodily harm, and that such threats and difficulties
continued up to a short time before the fatal difficulty, and
that on the day of the fatal difficulty the defendant
approached the deceased in a peaceable manner for the purpose
of adjusting the previous difficulty, or of getting such
explanation from the deceased, and for such purpose showed
him the letter admitted in evidence in this cause, and that
thereupon there arose a controversy between the defendant and
the deceased, and that the defendant was without fault in
bringing on the difficulty, and did not fight willingly, and
that the deceased then and there made a demonstration such as
to create in the mind of a reasonable man the honest belief
that the defendant was in imminent danger of death or great
bodily harm at the hands of...
