State v. Marlowe
State v. Marlowe
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The appellant was indicted for murder and convicted of manslaughter. There was testimony tending to show that the appellant and deceased were playing cards in a small room in the Elks’ Club in Greenville. The appellant was a member of the club, and the deceased was not. How the deceased obtained admittance to the rooms of the club is not stated. The parties became involved in a personal difficulty. The appellant testified that the deceased struck him with a chair and seriously injured him, and was in the act of striking him again when he fired the fatal shot.
“The seventh request of the defendant is as follows : ''The law of retreat in self-defense has no application where ■one is on his own premises, and the jury is charged that, where a member of a club is in the club rooms and the rooms .are owned by the club, the law of retreat does not apply to such a club member when attacked by another in the club rooms.’ ”
This was error. A man is no more bound to allow himself to be run out of his rest room than his workshop.
There are other assignments of error, but they are so peculiarly incident to that particular trial that, as a new trial is to be ordered, they have become academic.
The judgment is reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State v. Marlowe.
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Criminal Law—Erroneous Charge in One Case Cannot'be Held Error in Another Case.—Erroneous charge in one case cannot be held to be error in subsequent case, though some of the persons who served in the first case were serving as jurors in the subsequent case. 2. Criminal Law—Accused Consenting to Excusing Juror Cannot Complain.—Where a juror who had been accepted by both the plaintiff and the defendant asked to be excused on account of sickness, and the accused consented, he cannot be heard to complain on appeal. 3. Homicide—Admission op Evidence to Discredit Accused When Character not put in Issue Error.—Where in a prosecution for murder the solicitor was allowed to ask the defendant as to his association with Villa and others, the only purpose of which was to discredit him, accused not having put his character in issue, it was clearly incompetent and prejudicial. 4. Homicide—One not Bound to Retreat When Attacked in Rooms op Club op Which He was Member.—The law of retreat in self-defense has no application where one is on his own premises, and where a member of a club was in the club rooms, and the rooms are owned by the club, the law of retreat does not apply to such club member when attacked by another therein.