State v. Roberts

Defendant Roberts appeals from a judgment and sentence entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of second-degree murder. Appellant contends that the instruction given by the trial court concerning the presumption of second-degree murder is repugnant to the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. We agree, reverse the conviction, and remand for new trial.

Near midnight on April 27, 1975, the appellant emerged from a tavern in the Hillyard district of Spokane. He discovered a woman lying in the street, approximately 4 feet in front of a parked car,…