State v. Priest

NUGENT, Judge.

Martin Priest was charged with capital murder, § 565.001 1 , and convicted of murder in the second degree § 565.004, following a jury trial. He was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment. He appeals that conviction. We reverse defendant’s conviction.

On appeal, Priest claims the trial court erred in failing to sustain his motion for acquittal when the evidence was not sufficient to establish either that the death was the result of some criminal agency (the corpus delicti) or that death resulted from a “willful” act on his part. Because we find this sufficiency issue…