EVIDENCE-ADMISSIBILITY OF UNCOMMUNICATED THREATS

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree, following his killing of one Hunter as the outcome of a quarrel. The defendant had pleaded self-defense, contending that Hunter had appeared to threaten him. The defendant was the only witness to testify as to any aggression on the part of Hunter, while the four eyewitnesses to the killing all testified that the accused had attacked Hunter without warning and had fired upon Hunter's wife and child. Defendant's motion for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence showing that Hunter had in his pocket an open knife, which constituted an uncommunicated threat against him, was dismissed.

Held, order reversed,. motion for new trial granted. Such evidence was relevant as it could be construed by the jury as a threat which, although uncommunicated to the prisoner, bore on the question of the apparent conduct of the deceased. Judge Clark dissented. Griffin v. United States, (D.C. Cir.

1950) 183 F. (2d) 990.