Thomas v. State
Thomas v. State
Opinion of the Court
Appellant Reedy C. Thomas was indicted for the murder of J. C. McMurtray and was convicted in the Circuit Court of Holmes County of manslaughter. He argues that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the reasonable and believable evidence. The crime occurred on October 24, 1951, while appellant and McMurtray, and other Negroes were working on a bridge building project for a railroad near Tchula. Appellant and McMurtray were living in a camp car of the railroad. The shooting occurred around 4:15 P. M. in the camp car after they had ceased work. The
Appellant also complains of the refusal of two instructions, but they were properly denied. One of them told the jury that the danger to defendant “need not be apparent at the very instant the fatal blow is struck. ’ ’ But the apparency of danger must exist at the time a defendant acts in his own defense. 2 Julian P. Alexander, Mississippi Jury Instructions, (1953) Sections 4366-4370. Irby v. State, 186 Miss. 161, 185 So. 812, (1939), upon which appellant relies, does not consider whether the danger must be apparent at the time the fatal blow is struck.
Affirmed.
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