Couch v. State

Robert H. Dudley, Justice.

The appellant, Charles W. Couch, was charged with capital murder and attempt to commit first-degree murder. Both his plea and his defense at trial were that he was not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The uncontradicted proof revealed that on the evening of July 29, 1979, in one criminal episode on East Huntsville Road in Fayetteville, appellant shot and killed his estranged wife, Judy Wright Couch; shot and critically wounded Judy Couch’s cousin, Brenda Lee Jones; and shot and killed Miss Jones’ suitor, Larry Kilpatrick. Immediately afterwards,…