People v. Lynch

The defendant was convicted of an assault with a deadly weapon, and appeals from the judgment and order denying his motion for a new trial. He claims the shooting to have been done in self-defense, and contends that the court committed error in its instructions to the jury upon the law of the case.

1. An exception was taken to the following instruction:

Counsel say: “ Suppose defendant had assaulted the prosecuting witness with a deadly weapon with intent to do him great bodily harm; if it had been done in necessary self-defense he was entirely justified. Yet this instruction clearly directs the jury to find him guilty if such assault alone be proven.” A complete answer to this supposition is, that no such a state of facts could exist. One person cannot assault another in *231 self-defense. An assault in itself is unlawful, and any act done in self-defense cannot be an assault.

2. The court gave the following instruction:

We think the instruction entirely correct. To be sure, it says nothing about threats, but threats alone never justify a homicide. Words, however grievous, do not even reduce a homicide from murder to manslaughter. While threats are always admissible as…