Mary B. Riley v. United States

BAZELON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was convicted of manslaughter. At the trial she claimed that she had stabbed her common-law husband to death in self-defense.

According to the testimony of a policeman, appellant stated orally and in writing that she engaged in a fight with the deceased; that, while they were wrestling on the floor facing each other, the appellant on her left and the deceased on his right side, appellant stabbed the deceased in his back. Dr. Murphy, the deputy coroner, on the basis of an autopsy he performed, described the nature and direction of the stab wound. He was then…