Bowie v. Commonwealth

The facts in this case present a sordid story of an illicit amour between a married man and a single woman, with all of the implications attached to such a relation. The man, John Earl Bowie, was indicted for the murder of the woman, Clara Olivia Spencer. On this indictment he was tried and the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and fixed his punishment at five years in the penitentiary.

At the conclusion of the Commonwealth’s evidence, the defendant moved to strike it on the ground that the corpus delicti had not been proven, particularly, in that it failed to •show that the…