State v. Goacher

EAGER, Judge.

The defendant was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was represented at the trial by three unusually diligent appointed counsel, and here by one equally so. Since it is actively urged that the evidence was insufficient for such a conviction, we find it necessary to state the somewhat complicated facts in detail.

Sylvester Ralph Puckett, a filling station operator in St. Joseph, sixty-six years of age, was killed in his station at some time between 7:00 a. m. and approximately 8:30 a. m. on November 3, 1961. He was slain by being brutally beaten…