People v. Hardenbrook

This is an automatic appeal from' a judgment imposing the death penalty after a jury verdict finding the defendant guilty of first degree murder and fixing the penalty as death. Defendant was found sane by a jury after trial on his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The record does not disclose that a motion for a new trial was made by or on behalf of defendant.

Defendant, David J. Hardenbrook, was the adopted son of the victim of the homicide, Mrs. Eleanor Hardenbrook. Defendant admitted both prior to and during the trial that he shot his adoptive mother through the back of the head…