State v. Burgess

Following an almost daylong drinking episode, Virginia Burgess killed her intoxicated husband sometime during the evening of August 7, 1998. She stabbed him forty-seven times. At trial, Burgess claimed not to remember anything about the evening after the two had argued. A jury convicted her of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The trial court sentenced her to thirty years imprisonment for murder and five years for the weapons charge, the sentences to run concurrently. On appeal, Burgess argues the trial court abused its discretion by not ordering a psychiatric…