Helwinkel

Esther May Helwinkel was indicted for the murder of her husband, Lawrence R. Helwinkel. A jury trial resulted in a conviction of murder in the first degree, and pursuant to a verdict fixing the penalty, defendant was sen tenced to life imprisonment. She appeals from the judgment and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

The facts must be stated at some length because defendant’s conviction rested largely on circumstantial evidence, and the numerous events relating to her husband’s death by poison cover a period of several months. On January 12, 1959, Lawrence R. Helwinkel was unmarried and a foreman of the Armour poultry plant at Turlock, California. He applied for membership in the World-Wide Group, a lonely hearts correspondence club, representing that his income was $3,000 k year, that he owned his own home and an automobile, that he had never been married, and that he never used intoxicating liquor. In describing the type of person of the opposite sex in whom he was interested, he stated, “I would like to meet a woman who doesn’t drink, but one who wants a good home and would make a pleasant companion.”

In February 1959, defendant met the deceased through the…