State v. Faught

— Defendant, Michael James Faught, has appealed from his conviction of second-degree murder.

On July 9, 1961, about 7:30 a.m., the body of a Mrs. Zenor was found in the vegetable room in the basement of the Hemlock building at the Woodward State Hospital and School. She was a cook in the building. The handle of a butcher knife protruded from her chest. Its 8-inch blade was inside the body and had almost completely severed the aorta and windpipe. She had bled to death within a minute or two after she was stabbed.

Defendant, then 17, was a patient and student at the Woodward institution,…