State v. Valentine

ROBERTS, Justice.

Clence L. Valentine was tried in Superior Court, Cumberland County, for the intentional or knowing murder of Coletta Tripp, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) (Supp.1980). In a bifurcated trial, 1 after the court denied Valentine’s motion for acquittal, a jury found him guilty of the lesser included offense of manslaughter. Valentine thereafter withdrew his previous plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and was adjudged guilty of manslaughter, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 203 (Supp.1980). On appeal Valentine challenges the denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal on the grounds that the…