State v. Wangberg

Otis, Justice.

Defendant appeals from a conviction for murder in the second degree and from an order denying his motion for a new trial. The issues concern the propriety of the prosecutor’s final argument and the foundation for opinion testimony dealing with the defense of insanity.

Defendant was a college student who became involved in a dormitory altercation in the fall of 1961 resulting in a lawyer’s writing to his father, a Lutheran minister, recommending that defendant receive psychiatric treatment. When, on February 17, 1962, defendant was confronted with this letter, he became enraged…