United States v. James E. McCracken

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

This is a direct appeal from a conviction for first degree murder. On August 18, 1971, James E. McCracken, then a fifty-six year old domiciliary patient at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi, shot and killed Dr. Hugh B. McGill, a member of the medical staff at the facility. Using the same .38 caliber pistol, he then shot and wounded himself. He made no attempt to escape or to conceal or deny his actions.

Following his indictment for first degree murder, 1 McCracken was sent to the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri,…