State v. Hartley

Even if properly requested, I do not think a trial judge should charge, in a murder case, that the absence of a motive should be considered in deciding the question of guilt.

The most brutal murders, like the murder in this case, are commonly committed without an apparent motive. Indeed, the absence of a motive is sometimes what makes them seem brutal. The homicide detective’s Holy Trinity, i.e., the three things that solve murders, are physical evidence, witnesses and confessions. The experienced investigator ignores motivation. Agatha Christie, and her ilk, would have us believe that to…