Madison v. State

This is an appeal from conviction of murder in the first degree and sentence of death.

On Saturday, April 28, 1951 about half-past eight in the morning, Zelig Gerstein, the proprietor of a small grocery store at 417 North Fremont Avenue, between Mulberry and Franklin Streets, was killed by a bullet fired, at close range, from a pistol in defendant’s hand. The court, in its advisory charge to the jury, advised the jury that it could not find a verdict of murder in the first degree unless it found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant attempted to rob Gerstein and in the attempt shot and…