Opinion

State v. Hay

  • 120 Mont. 573
  • 194 P.2d 232
  • 1948 Mont. LEXIS 10
Court
Montana Supreme Court
Filed
Jan 27, 1948
Status
Published
Author
Adair
On the bench
Metcalf, Adair, Choate, Gibson, Angstman
Cited by
20 cases
Authority
More cited than 40.9%

The opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Adair

(dissenting).

In State v. Darchuck, 117 Mont. 15 , 156 Pac. (2d) 173, 175 , decided February 20, 1945, this court in reversing a conviction of involuntary manslaughter because of the failure of the trial court’s instruction No. 16 to include “proximate cause” as an element of the crime, said: “It is our view that because of the giving of instruction No. 16, the defendant is entitled to a new trial.”

In the instant case the trial court’s instructions Nos. 17 and 31, given over defendant’s objections, contain misstatements as to the law and are clearly erroneous under any possible state of facts. Such instructions when followed by the jury could only result in prejudice to the accused for the trial judge’s misstatement of the law and his misdirection of the jury deprived the accused of his substantial rights.

That the giving of the two erroneous instructions over defendant’s objections constitutes reversable error see: State v. Darchuck (1945), supra; State v. Jones, 48 Mont. 505 , 139 Pac. 441 ; State v. Hogan, 100 Mont. 434, 436 , 49 Pac. (2d) 446 ; Vande Veegaete v. Vande Veegaete, 75 Mont. 52 , 243 Pac. 1082 ; State v. Simanton, 100 Mont. 292, 306 , 49 Pac. (2d) 981 ; Parrin v. Montana Central Ry. Co., 22 Mont. 290, 292 , 56 Pac. 315 ; State v. Mason, 24 Mont. 340, 341 , 61 Pac. 861 ; Lawrence v. Westlake, 28 Mont. 503, 507 , 73 Pac. 119 ; Donovan-McCormick Co. v. Sparr, 34 Mont. 237 , 85 Pac. 1029 ; State v. Sloan, 35 Mont. 367 , 89 Pac. 829 .

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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