Merida v. Commonwealth

SIMS, Justice.

Appellant, James Merida, was convicted of burning a two-room dwelling house in December 1950, belonging to his wife’s sister, Cleo Merida, and his punishment was fixed at confinement in the penitentiary for a term of two years. In seeking to reverse the judgment he insists: (a) incompetent evidence was admitted over his objections; (b) the instructions did not give his theory of the case.

The proof shows appellant had not been getting along with his wife and her family. At the time the house burned his wife had left him, and his father-in-law, Jimmy Broughton, who lived near…