State v. Nicholson

The defendant was charged and convicted of second degree murder (Sec. 76-5-203, Utah Code Annotated 1953)1 for the death *61of her 19 month old son, Troy, whose brother was named Travis, in a trial to the court, sitting without a jury.

This case is unique in that defense counsel conceded substantially all of the gruesome facts condensed below. The only defense was a psychotic behavioral personality-

Defendant was married to a service man in March, 1975, and the twins were born the next May. He was assigned to an isolated air base in Alaska, and went there about nine months later, in January, 1976.…