People v. Williams

The defendant in this case was charged with the crime of murder. Upon his trial he was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to twenty years in the state prison. The appeal is from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

The sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict and judgment is not challenged. It should be noted, however, that the evidence shows that a bullet fired from a pistol in the hand of the defendant, entered the body of the deceased “right above the collar bone . . . ; took a downward and inward course, penetrated the body of the third dorsal vertebra; . . . cut half the cord and embedded in the spinal canal.” The immediate effect of the wound was partial paralysis of the body of the deceased, and an operation for the removal of the bullet was found necessary. The location of the wound, and the course and effect of the bullet, in all probability would have caused death even if septicemia had not set in. While the death of the deceased was attributed to two causes, viz., the shock of the wound and the shock of the operation, nevertheless the former was asserted to be the primary cause, and the latter is only an immaterial…