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20 N.C. 117

State v. Smith

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided June 15, 1838

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1838-06-15

<p>Where one goes to the house of another in a peaceable manner without offering or threatening violence to his person or dwelling, and upon being ordered off and not going immediately, is killed by the owner of the premises, the slayer is guilty of murder, although it be ^proved that he had previously forbidden the deceased from coming on his premises.</p>

Decided 1838-06-15

Per Curiam.

¶1The court has not perceived any thing in the instructions to the jury, taken in connexion with the evidence stated, that can authorize a reversal of the judgment.

¶2There was no evidence from which it could be judicially or rationally inferred, that the deceased, in word or action, threatened, or even that he meditated violence to the person or dwelling of the prisoner. On the contrary, the evidence establishes a killing without provocation at the time, upon a formed design and ancient grudge, indicated by express threats, and three repeated attempts to shoot an unarmed and unresisting man. It is a cáse of express malice, proved by direct evidence.

¶3The judgment must therefore be affirmed, and the usual certificate transmitted to the Superior Court, in order that the sentence of the law may be carried into execution.

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