Benefield v. State

CATES, Judge.

Mrs. Benefield was, on December 10, 1954, indicted by a grand jury of Tuscaloosa County for first degree murder, the true bill charging her with killing her husband with a shotgun. On October 5, 1955 (after observation as to her sanity, Code 1940, T. 15, § 425), she was tried on pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The verdict was of guilt as to second degree murder and fixed her punishment at ten years’ imprisonment.

The State’s evidence tended to show that on the night of November 12, 1954, two policemen of the City of Tuscaloosa were called to the Benefield…