Nubla

On the morning of December 20, 1996, defendant and appellant Cornelius Joseph Nubia, apparently under the influence of long-term abuse of methamphetamine and unhappy because his wife, Melinda Nubia, wanted to separate from him, got into an argument with her. The argument escalated to the point that Ms. Nubia attempted to telephone the police. Appellant pulled the telephone from her hand and threw it across the room. Ms. Nubia began to scream for help. Appellant put his hand over her mouth and pushed her facedown onto the bed, causing her nose to bleed. Appellant pushed something cold and hard into the back of Ms. Nubia’s head. He then turned her faceup and put a gun in her mouth, cutting her lip and chipping her tooth. He told her he wanted her to look at the gun and that it was cocked. He said that if he could not have her no one could. After a few moments appellant took the gun out of Ms. Nubia’s mouth. He told her to shoot him. He got up a few minutes after that, went into the bathroom and apparently took a handful of pills. A short time later appellant began to stumble around the room, enabling Ms. Nubia to get away. She called the police who took appellant into…