State v. Simmons

MILLER, Justice:

Betty Jean Dowd Simmons appeals from her conviction by a jury in the Circuit Court of Ohio County of second-degree murder, for which she was sentenced to serve an indeterminate period of five to eighteen years. In her petition, the defendant argues that the trial court erred: in appointing the State’s psychiatrist, Dr. David Smith, and in admitting his testimony into evidence; in refusing to grant her instruction relating to the effect of her mental condition upon the elements of the crime; in allowing a tape-recorded confession of the defendant to be played before the jury;…