People v. Sears

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Tioga County, rendered March 19, 1976, upon a verdict convicting defendant of *694the crime of manslaughter in the first degree. Carl Johnson was killed on April 23, 1975 at a gathering of friends in the cabin home of one Bruce Dunnett and his wife on Candor Hill Road, Tioga County, New York. He died as the result of being stabbed once in the chest with a butcher knife wielded by the defendant who, immediately thereafter, was heard by a number of eyewitnesses to proclaim, "I’ve won. I’ve killed the devil.” At his trial on a charge of second degree…