State v. Blessing

The appellant, Anthony Blessing, was convicted of second degree murder by a jury in the Circuit Court of Cabell County on December 11, 1980 and sentenced to an indeterminate term of from five to eighteen years in the penitentiary. On appeal he claims that the court erred in making certain comments and instructing the jury after the jurors informed the court of their deadlock. 1

The evidence in this case discloses that the appellant and Benjamin Wilson were charged with first degree murder in the death of seventy-five-year-old Enos Adkins. Mr. Adkins was beaten to death in an alley in…