State v. Fine

This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment convicting him of murder and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The debatable point in the case is whether the court erred in allowing testimony tending to show an undue intimacy between defendant and the wife of Swarthout, the deceased, hence tending to show motive.

Defendant, a widower, lived with his mother and two sons on one corner of a city block, and Swarthout with'his wife and four children lived on the other corner, the houses facing the same-street. Swarthout was away from home a large part of the time. It was the custom of…