Brumley v. Commonwealth

MILLIKEN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction for voluntary manslaughter resulting in a sentence of two years in the penitentiary. The judgment must be reversed because this Court changed the standard instruction covering the defense of insanity in Terry v. Commonwealth, Ky., 371 S.W.2d 862, decided in May, 1963, after the appellant’s conviction in January of 1963, but while it was pending on appeal.

The appellant shot and killed Reuben Smith, an 83-year old man, on September 1, 1962, after a heated argument over a small debt when Smith struck her with his cane and abused her…