State v. Stevens

The State’s evidence shows these facts: Clara Stevens and defendant, her husband, separated on 27 July 1964. Three children were born of their marriage — Jo Anne, age 8 years; Johnny, age 5 years; and Jeffrey, age 3 years. Clara Stevens had a daughter, Annette Cagle, age 18 years, born of a prior marriage. On 2 August 1964 Clara Stevens and her three children born of her marriage with defendant were living with her father, Lonnie Smith, in a five-room frame house at 837 Mill Street in the town of Albemarle.

About 1:30 a.m. on 2 August 1964, Clara Stevens was asleep in a bed in a bedroom in her…