Leon D. Urban v. United States

Appellant was indicted below on a charge of murder; and on a trial before a jury a verdict of manslaughter was returned against him. This appeal ensued.

There was testimony to the following effect: Appellant and one Myrtle Cathey were joint operators of a small bar known as the Alibi Club, located in the south part of Fairbanks, and the two were living together, as though married, in the back part of the Club. In the early morning hours of January 22, 1955, appellant was at the Alibi Club, from which place he went to another club called the Players, located about a mile distant, knowing that Myrtle was there. Upon his arrival he had a few words with Myrtle and then proceeded to remove her forcibly from the place. He engaged a cab, operated by one Jennings, who testified that he heard the appellant hit the woman several times, knocking her down on the floorboard of the cab; that he then heard him pick her up and knock her against the cab door. Upon arriving at the Alibi Club, according to Jennings, he saw the woman slumped on the back seat and saw blood on her face and down her clothes and on the cab seat. Also, he observed appellant get out of the cab, unlock the door of the…