Clayton Arpan v. United States

JOHNSEN, Circuit Judge.

Appellant, a 29-year old Indian, was charged with having murdered his wife, in the second degree, on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was found guilty by a jury and was sentenced by the court to 15 years imprisonment. Federal jurisdiction rests on 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 1153 and 1111.

The wife was shot in the brain, by a bullet from a .22 caliber pistol belonging to appellant — the fatality having occurred in the bedroom of their home, about 2 o’clock a. m., on December 13. 1956. Appellant admitted that he was in the house at the time but professed to be…