Nicholson v. State

Hill, Presiding Justice.

Defendant Gilbert Nicholson was convicted of the shotgun murder of his stepson, Wendell Steven Wade. He received a life sentence and appeals.

The defendant and his wife, Dorothy Nicholson, lived with her son (the victim) and her ex-son-in-law, Darrell Huffman, at 2 Minchew Drive in Floyd County. Next door, at 3 Minchew Drive, lived Dorothy’s daughter (Darrell’s ex-wife), Sylvia Huffman, and another of Dorothy’s sons, Frank Atkins.

The victim spent the evening of January 23, 1981, with Frank Atkins, Darrell Huffman and a friend, Ricky Smith, playing cards, watching…