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State v. Pierce

Supreme Court of Utah
Apr 12, 1966
412 P.2d 923 (Utah 1966)

Opinion

No. 10279.

April 12, 1966.

Appeal from the Third District Court, Salt Lake County, Ray Van Cott, J.

Jimi Mitsunaga, Public Defender, Salt Lake City, for appellant.

Phil L. Hansen, Atty. Gen., Ronald N. Boyce, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Salt Lake City, for respondent.


Appeal from a second degree murder conviction involving a glue-sniffing episode. Affirmed.

Deceased and defendant, — teenagers, — sat in defendant's apartment sniffing glue. Defendant left and returned saying the deceased, whom he later stabbed, was crying, saying ghosts came in through the wall after he left, which ghosts were arguing whether deceased should go with the white or the colored people, — all hearsay volunteered by the defendant. Defendant said deceased asked him to turn the lights off 'til the ghosts returned. Next defendant said he saw the deceased bleeding when he turned the lights on. He fled and told officers he had attempted to stab the ghosts. The officers found deceased's wallet containing $25 on defendant at this time.

Defendant urges that there was error in failure to 1) instruct about hallucinations, etc., 2) to instruct as to voluntary manslaughter, and others.

We are unimpressed and see no error in this case. We affirm the jury's verdict and the court's judgment based thereon.

McDONOUGH, WADE and CALLISTER, JJ., concur.

CROCKETT, J., concurs in the result.


Summaries of

State v. Pierce

Supreme Court of Utah
Apr 12, 1966
412 P.2d 923 (Utah 1966)
Case details for

State v. Pierce

Case Details

Full title:THE STATE OF UTAH, PLAINTIFF AND RESPONDENT, v. RAY WAYNE PIERCE…

Court:Supreme Court of Utah

Date published: Apr 12, 1966

Citations

412 P.2d 923 (Utah 1966)
17 Utah 2

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