Eldred v. Commonwealth

STUMBO, Justice.

This appeal arises from the judgment of conviction of Appellant, Frank Eldred, for murder, for which he received a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole for twenty-five years. He appeals to this Court as a matter of right.

On July 23, 1988, Herbert Cannon was killed when his automobile was burned. The automobile was completely destroyed by the extremely hot fire, which also incinerated the body, although the official cause of death was smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide intoxication. The Commonwealth’s theory of the case was that the decedent was…