State v. Belwood

(dissenting) :

I dissent. The defendant is a cold-blooded murderer by his own confession. The prevailing opinion would give him a new trial on the ground that the trial court abused its discretion in permitting the district attorney to cross-examine the defendant as he did.

The defendant took the witness stand and on direct examination testified that he weighed 130 pounds and that from about four in the afternoon of July 8, 1970, until two in the morning of July 9, 1970, he drank 20 sixteen-ounce cans of beer. He also testified that he took the drug valium at about the same time. He further…