People v. Gates

Chief Judge Fuld.

Patricia Gates was stabbed to death in the early morning hours of September 7, 1966, in her apartment in the Village of Spring Valley. The defendant, her estranged husband, was charged with the killing and convicted of murder in the first degree. Of the several questions raised on this appeal, we are, primarily, concerned with that involving the sufficiency of the evidence of the defendant’s guilt.

Mrs. Gates had, in June of 1966, obtained a decree of separation from her husband which awarded her custody of their four children. As they left the courthouse, Gates told his wife,…