State v. Pray

The respondent was convicted, by a .jury, of murder in the first degree. Appeal is mandatory. Four claims of error are advanced. The first relates to the opinion of an expert witness, the next two relate to claimed errors in the charge on the issues of intoxication and motive, and the last concerns the denial of the motion to set aside the verdict.

The homicide arose out of domestic strife. The respondent’s wife had returned to her parents’ home and instituted divorce proceedings. On the day in question the respondent followed his father-in-law’s pickup truck into the in-law’s yard and had an…