Evidence sufficient to sustain a finding of premeditation and deliberation for first degree murder are: planning activity, motive, and manner of killing. Appellant was charged with the first degree murder of his wife and mother-in-law whose knifed bodies were discovered in the bathtub by police responding to appellant’s threatened suicide. In this case, the court minutely reviewed evidence concerning the circumstances prior to the killings, the weapon used, and appellants motive to sustain the jury finding of first degree murder. The court found that the evidence of planning activity, motive, and manner of killing provided sufficient evidence in support of the verdict and affirmed the judgment.
Case Summaries