Morris v. State

ANDERSON, Chief Justice.

The appellant was indicted and convicted of murder in the first degree and given the death penalty. The defense was “not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.” There was little, if any, conflict in the evidence as to the defendant’s guilt of murder in the first degree, no self-defense, but lying in wait when firing the fatal shot or shots. There was an effort, however, to establish the mental incapacity of the defendant at the time of the homicide and it was this defense chiefly, if not entirely, as to which the rulings of the trial court are challenged.

It is…