Lackey v. State

Ethridge, C.

This case presents a question of first impression in Mississippi and, we think, elsewhere: Is a “universal malice”, murder statute applicable to one who kills a woman as a result of performing an attempted abortion upon her at her request ? The evidence showed no deliberate design to kill her, and the acts done did not imperil indiscriminately the lives of others.

Appellant, Albert P. Lackey, was convicted in the Circuit Court of Lee County, Missisippi, of the murder on January 1,1950 of Ava Lucille Vaiden, and was sentenced to serve a life term in the state penitentiary. Appellant *895…