State v. Crocker

Ness, Justice:

Appellant Crocker stabbed and killed his estranged wife in the presence of several eyewitnesses. The jury found him guilty of murder. We affirm.

Initially, appellant asserts the trial court erred in refusing to charge that the State must prove absence of the heat of passion beyond a reasonable doubt, citing Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S. Ct. 1881, 44 L. Ed. (2d) 508 (1975). We disagree.

Mullaney v. Wilbur challenged that Maine rule which required a defendant charged with murder to prove by the fair preponderance of the evidence that he acted in the hfeat of passion, in…