State v. Thornton

SWOFFORD, Presiding Judge.

This is a direct appeal from a conviction of manslaughter and a sentence of ten years imprisonment following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Boone County, Missouri.

On January 8, 1970, at approximately 6:30 p. m., one James Bierley was found by ambulance attendants called to the scene alone in his quarters at 400 Hitt Street in Columbia, Missouri, on a bed, bleeding from multiple chest wounds. He was pronounced dead at 7:30 p. m. by the Boone County Coroner, who, by autopsy, determined that within an hour before his death he had sustained six stab wounds in the…