Dalton v. State

Larry Jerome Dalton was convicted for manslaughter in the death of his wife, Della Dalton, and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.

On November 20, 1983, the defendant and Michael Pless had been target shooting with a .38 caliber derringer and had been smoking marijuana. At approximately 11:30 that morning, they returned to the defendant's home and were talking about how they could not hit anything with the pistol. Mrs. Dalton asked what good was the pistol if they could not hit anything with it. The defendant put the derringer to Mrs. Dalton's shoulder and said, "It's for close range."…