State v. Rueckert

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Owsley, J.:

This is a direct appeal from a jury verdict wherein defendant was found guilty of felony murder. (K. S. A. 21-3401.)

The facts reveal a cruel and bizarre homicide. Defendant Harold Allen Rueckert and Patrick Michael Sharkey spent most of the evening of December 21, 1973, bar-hopping in Overland Park, Kansas. At approximately midnight they were driving west on Merriam Lane when they came upon a slow-moving white 1962 Chevrolet. The car was driven by the Reverend Mr. Nathaniel Collins, a 73-year-old retired black minister, who was returning…