State v. Drinkwalter

The appellant, Randy Drinkwalter, was convicted of first degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony in the beating death of Esther Drinkwalter. The defendant was sentenced to death on the murder count and to imprisonment for 6 to 12 years on the weapon count.

Upon appeal, the defendant has assigned as error that the trial court erred (1) in permitting the defendant’s cousin, Jim Drinkwalter, to testify that the victim told him some 5 months prior to her murder that she was fearful of the defendant, over objection on foundation, relevancy, and hearsay grounds; (2) in failing to…