State v. Lewis

charged the jury, in part, as follows:

Officers of the law, such as sheriffs, constables, policemen and police matrons, while in the due and lawful execution of their office, are under the peculiar protection of the law, and the killing of such an officer, while in the due and lawful performance of the duties of his office, has been deemed and presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be murder of the second degree. State v. List, Houst. Cr. Cas. 133, 142, 143.