Hightower v. State

GIVAN, Chief Justice.

Appellant was charged with murder. He was convicted by a jury of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.

The body of the victim, a fourteen year old female, was found in a rural cornfield. She had suffered a total of fifteen .22 cali-bre rifle gunshot wounds, slashes to her back inflicted with a knife or similar instrument and injuries that may have been sustained by being run over by a vehicle. The victim’s anus and vagina were bruised. Laboratory examinations revealed the presence of sperm in the vagina. A chrome strip from a vehicle and paper…