(Download) "People V. Horn" by Supreme Court Of California ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People V. Horn
- Author : Supreme Court Of California
- Release Date : January 07, 1974
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
Defendants Wilmout Horn and Virgil Lee Feltner appeal from convictions, following jury verdict, of conspiracy to commit first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 182), of arson (Pen. Code, § 447a), and of unlawful manufacture of a fire bomb (Pen. Code, § 452). Evidence submitted at the trial showed that at the time of the conspiracy defendants were so intoxicated that they may have lacked the capacity to entertain malice aforethought, and consequently that the conspiracy should be classed as one to commit voluntary manslaughter. The trial court, however, erroneously refused to instruct the jury that diminished capacity arising from intoxication can reduce a homicide to manslaughter and erroneously compelled the jury to choose between finding defendants guilty of conspiracy to commit first degree murder or innocent of any conspiracy at all. The court's error in instructions and the form of verdict seriously prejudiced the defense to the conspiracy count and requires a reversal of that conviction. We find no error, however, as to the convictions for arson and manufacture of a fire bomb; we affirm those convictions.