State v. Valdez

CALLISTER, Chief Justice:

Defendant appeals from his conviction by a jury of the crime of first-degree murder; the jury recommended leniency, and defendant was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment.

There is no dispute that defendant entered the Post Lounge in Ogden, Utah, at about 12:30 a. m. on August 21, 1971, walked up to the booth where his former wife, Ida Berniece Valdez, was seated with her companions, held his gun with both hands and fired it seven times into her body, and then walked hurriedly away, without speaking a . word. Defendant pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of…