Barnett v. Commonwealth

LEIBSON, Justice.

The jury convicted the appellant for intentional murder and fixed his punishment at twenty years, the minimum sentence.

At the time of the murder the appellant was 57 years old, with no previous criminal history. The Commonwealth’s theory was that the appellant carefully planned and carried out the murder of his wife of forty years to dispose of her while retaining the money and property they had accumulated during their marriage.

In support of this theory the Commonwealth produced evidence much of which the defense challenges as inadmissible. A former paramour testified…