State v. Everhart

Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree for causing the death of Clarence Dunning by strychnine poisoning. The jury assessed his punishment at life imprisonment. After unavailing motion for new trial, appellant was sentenced upon the verdict, and has appealed.

Dunning and his wife and two small children lived with and kept house for appellant and his infant daughter in a house owned by appellant in Parma, New Madrid County. Dunning and wife were each about twenty-four years old. Appellant was forty-seven years old.

The proof of appellant’s guilt was entirely circumstantial. The…