Hardin v. State

Weltner, Justice.

Thomas Hardin died from a gunshot wound in his back. Ethel Hardin, his wife, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Hardin hired a man to kill her husband. When that plan failed, she enlisted the aid of her son, who went to the construction site where his stepfather was working, shot him in the back with his mother’s rifle, then hid the rifle in the basement of her home. The son later led the police to the hidden rifle, and pleaded guilty to murder. He stated at trial that he shot his stepfather “because it was what ma wanted.”

1. Hardin contends that the…