State v. Shaw

On February 27, 1912, at Walla Walla, the defendant, William J. Shaw, while laboring under some considerable excitement, and evidently believing himself to have been greatly wronged by his wife’s desertion of him, induced by one Hudson, a one time friend, shot and killed his wife. He was charged, by information filed in the superior court for Walla Walla county, with the crime of murder in the first degree. He pleaded not guilty, and there was also interposed in his behalf by his counsel the plea that, at the time of shooting his wife, he was mentally irresponsible. He was thereafter tried,…