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79 Ala. 32

Hull v. State

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided December 15, 1885

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1885-12-15

Prom the Circuit Court of Cherokee. Tried before the lion. James Aiken.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““It is sufficient, if the substance of the charge be proved, without regard to the precise instrument used. Though the indictment charges a particular weapon, the averment is substantially proved if it be shown that some other instrument was employed, which occasions a wound of the same kind as the instrument charged, and the same consequences naturally follow.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including 32 Ala. App. 416 - Threatt v. State

Relies on State v. Smith · Prior v. State · Rodgers v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1885-12-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 14 later decisions — most recently May 1994

14 state decisions

30188518901900191019201930194019501960197019801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

CLOPTON, J.

¶1The indictment charges, that the assault was made with a razor. There was evidence tending to show that the wound was inflicted with a pocket-knife. The court, in the general charge, instructed the jury, in substance, that it was immaterial whether the assault was made with a razor or a pocket-knife; and refused to charge, at the request of defendant, that if the jury had a reasonable doubt as to the assault being made with a razor, they must acquit the defendant. It is sufficient, if the substance of the charge be proved, without regard to the precise instrument used. Though the indictment charges a particular weapon, the averment is substantially proved, if it be shown that some other instrument was employed, which occasions a wound of the same kind as the instrument charged, and the same consequences naturally follow. State v. Fox, 1 Dutcher, 566; State v. Smith, 32 Me. 369; Rogers v. State, 50 Ala. 102; 1 Bish. on Crim. Proc., § 514; 1 Arch. Cr. Pr. & Pl. 787.

¶2The second charge requested by defendant, was properly refused. It predicates the right of defendant to an acquittal on the mere fact of a reasonable apprehension of an assault; and ignores a real or apparent danger to life or limb, and the doctrine of retreat.Prior v. State, 77 Ala. 56; Henderson v. State, 77 Ala. 77.

¶3Affirmed.

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