Goodwin v. State

The appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to the State’s prison for life. The evidence conclusively proves that he shot to death his brother, John R. Goodwin, and the only question for the decision of the jury which, under the evidence, fairly admitted of dispute, was as to the mental condition of the accused at the time the homicide was committed.

Threats of the accused to shoot his brother, made thirty years before the homicide, when the former was a lad of fifteen, were proved, and the ruling of the court admitting this evidence is assailed as erroneous. There…