Burkhart

The defendant was charged with the murder of Ann McKnight Burkhart, his estranged wife. The jury brought in a verdict finding the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and recommending that he suffer the death penalty. This appeal is from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying defendant’s motion for new trial.

The homicide of which defendant stands convicted occurred on March 24, 1930, at a time when the parties were living separate and apart, the deceased having theretofore instituted divorce proceedings. On two distinct occasions prior to the homicide, the defendant had attempted in vain to get in touch with his wife, with the view of having her return to him, and, upon being informed by the persons with whom she was living that his wife would not return to him, he stated: “By God, I will have her. She is my wife and if I can’t have her nobody else shall because I will bill her first;” and, “I have made up my mind that if I cannot have her nobody else will if I have to spend the rest of my life in the penitentiary.” On the day preceding the homicide defendant purchased a Ford coupe under the name of Charles G. Thompson, and gave a fictitious check for…