Brown v. State

This is an appeal from the denial of post-conviction relief. Defendant (Appellant) had been convicted of murder in the second degree in 1968 and sentenced to life imprisonment under the statute then in effect (Acts of 1905, ch. 1969, § 350, 1956 Repl. Burns Ind. Ann. Stat. § 10-3404), which was as follows:

“Whoever, purposely and maliciously, but without premeditation, kills any human being, is guilty of murder in the second degree, and, on conviction, shall be imprisoned in the state prison during life.”

The penalty then prescribed for murder in the first degree was death or life imprisonment.…