Lewis

The defendant was tried upon an information charging him with the crime of murder, and was convicted of manslaughter. His appeal, which is from the judgment and an order denying a new trial, presents for determination the single point of the trial court’s refusal to give a requested instruction upon the subject of self-defense, defendant claiming, in support of his plea of not guilty, that his acts were justified upon that ground.

The circumstances leading up to the crime need not be related. With reference to the immediate facts of the killing which have any bearing upon the point under consideration, it appears from the evidence that the defendant fired at least five shots, three of which found lodgment in the body of the deceased. Two of the latter shots inflicted only superficial wounds, which in no wise contributed to the death of the deceased. One of the three shots penetrated and fractured the skull of the deceased, and was necessarily fatal.

The shooting commenced in a Pullman car which was standing in the West Oakland yards of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and when it ceased the deceased was lying on the ground at or near the end of the car. The defendant did…