Jury Instructions

The court instructs the jury that the intentional assumption of a false name immediately after the commission of a crime is not sufficient evidence in itself to establish [defendant’s] guilt, but is a fact that, if proved, you may consider in the light of all other evidence in the case. In determining guilt or innocence, […]

The mere fact that a person who was present at the scene where a crime was committed thereafter leaves the scene, creates no presumption that such person is guilty of having committed the crime.

[A] Where the Commonwealth, in an effort to establish malice, relies upon the alleged use of a deadly weapon, the burden ison the Commonwealth to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the weapon used was a deadly one . . . [B] Where the Commonwealth, in an effort to establish malice, relies upon the alleged

The mere fact that an instrument produces death does not establish its character as a deadly weapon. If you have a reasonable doubt that the weapon in this case was one that was likely to produce death or great bodily injury from the manner in which it was used, then you must find that the

[A] Any object or instrument other than nature’s weapons that is used in wounding or doing serous bodily injury to a person is a deadly weapon if it is likely to produce death or great bodily injury when used in a manner and under the circumstances in which it was used. You are the judges

When one is assaulted he may use in self-defense only such force as appears to him reasonably necessary to repel the attack.

If you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was with some fault in provoking or bringing on the difficulty, and if you further believe that when attacked 1. He retreated as far as he safely could under the circumstances; and 2. In good faith attempted to abandon the difficulty, and

If you believe from the evidence that the defendant, although in some fault in the first instance in provoking or bringing on the difficulty, was attacked by the deceased, and that he, the defendant, retreated as far as possible and announced his desire for peace, then if you further believe from the evidence that he

Words alone, no matter how grievous or insulting, are never justification for an assault by force or violence.

Even if you believe from the evidence that the deceased had directed words, however grievous and insulting, to the defendant, and even should you further believe that the defendant through fear believed that it was necessary to shoot as he did in order to save his own life or avoid serious bodily harm, unless you