Murray v. State

CLEMENS, Presiding Judge.

Movant James A. Murray (hereafter defendant) has appealed denial of his Rule 27.26 motion, held after an evidentiary hearing. The 17-year-old defendant and a co-defendant, Jeffrey Skaggs, were originally indicted for felony-murder arising from a tavern robbery. The state later filed a substitute information charging second-degree murder and defendant pled guilty and was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.

The underlying murder charge arose from these facts: The unarmed defendant and Skaggs entered a tavern intending to rob; during the robbery Skaggs shot and killed a…