State v. Pittman

GORDON, Justice:

On March 4,1977, a Yavapai County Jury found appellant guilty of the first degree murder of Clara Statler. Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for twenty-five years. We have jurisdiction of his appeal pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-1711.

At the time of the events described below, appellant, age 17, lived with his parents in a house directly across the street from the houses of Sam Barney, age nine, and Jesse Rivera, Jr., age eight, two of the state’s key witnesses. The victim lived across the alley that runs behind the Rivera and Barney houses.…