Drake v. State

GIVAN, Chief Justice.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of First Degree Murder.

The facts are these. Ruth Heaton, an elderly woman living alone, was killed in her home in Anderson, Indiana. Her assailant struck her about the head with a candlestick and then strangled her by placing a rope around her neck and attaching the rope to a door. The autopsy revealed strangulation to be the cause of death.

The police initially suspected M.C., an acquaintance of appellant, to be the assailant. He had befriended the victim and had been seeking large sums of money from her as well. The police did arrest…