Wyoming Supreme Court
Foley v. State
June 3, 190311 Wyo. 464
Summary
The court reversed Foley's second-degree murder conviction because the self-defense instruction improperly required the defendant to prove each element of the defense to a level exceeding a preponderance of the evidence and incorrectly stated that self-defense necessarily involved an intentional killing. The court also held that prior quarrels and an earlier alleged challenge to fight were inadmissible portions of the deceased's dying declarations and that testimony from a former trial was improperly admitted in fragmentary form. The case was remanded for a new trial.
Holding
- Burden of proof for self-defense. The self-defense instruction was fatally erroneous because it required the jury to be satisfied of each listed fact before acquitting Foley, thereby imposing on him a burden greater than a preponderance of the evidence.
- Intentional killing and self-defense. The instruction was erroneous insofar as it stated that self-defense presupposes an intentional killing and that one who kills in self-defense necessarily intends to kill.
- Admissibility and scope of the deceased's written statement. The written statement was not itself admissible as the deceased's dying declaration because it was neither read to nor signed or assented to by him. Even if the physicians could testify to the declarations using the writing to refresh their memories, statements about prior quarrels and an earlier challenge to fight were inadmissible because they concerned distinct earlier matters rather than the circumstances of the death.
- Testimony concerning a deceased witness's former testimony. The testimony was improperly admitted because the witness did not state the substance of all the deceased witness's testimony on the subject, but instead supplied only an isolated fragment.
Cited by
- State v. E. D. Rogers
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- State of Iowa, Appellee v. O. H. Sweeney, Appellant
- Jeff D. Harris v. State.
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- Rosencrance v. State [Fn]