State v. Barnhart

Langenbach, J. †

Appellant and two other young men were charged with murder in the first degree, committed in Kittitas County. One defendant was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser offense, and one was dismissed at the close of the trial. Appellant was convicted of murder in the second degree and has appealed.

Appellant and the two other defendants, Barnhart and Fritsch, worked together on a beet farm. The victim, Robert Thompson, had also worked there but had recently been discharged. On the evening of November 1, 1965, the defendants drove around in Fritsch’s automobile, drinking beer. Later,…