John Henry Maxwell v. United States
Opinion
Opinion
Hamley, J.
John Henry Maxwell was indicted for first degree murder committed in Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1111 and 1152 (1964). He pleaded not guilty. At his trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree “without capital punishment.” A judgment of conviction and sentence to imprisonment for life was entered, from which Maxwell takes this appeal.
The essential facts pertaining to the killing may be briefly stated. About four o’clock on the afternoon of March 9, 1964, Maxwell entered a bar in Parker, Arizona, located within the boundaries of the Colorado Indian Reservation. For some hours prior to that time he had had very little to eat and had consumed a pint of intoxicating liquor. From four to seven thirty p. m., Maxwell continued to drink at the bar. He quarreled with the bar maid when she refused to serve him because he had been using foul language.
About seven p. m., Donald Short, a stranger to Maxwell, entered the bar. He verbally intervened in the quarrel between Maxwell and the bar maid. A short time later, while the two men were standing six or seven feet apart, Maxwell shot Short in the abdomen, causing Short’s death.