People v. Burnstein

Upon trial by jury, defendants were convicted of murder in the first degree. Life sentences were imposed and they have appealed. One reason assigned in support of the appeal is that defendants were not permitted to introduce testimony which they claim would have disclosed a motive on the part of others than the defendants for committing this crime. Appellants’ brief presents this phase of the appeal as follows:

“The defendants were endeavoring to show that Sutker, Lebovitz and Paul (the murdered men) were the members of a gang that had a feud with a gang of which one William Butler was a…