Whitaker v. Commonwealth

STUMBO, Justice.

Bernard Whitaker appeals from his murder conviction which resulted in a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, he raises four errors, two of which we find sufficient to merit reversal of this conviction.

Whitaker was charged with the murder of his estranged wife. The evidence presented was that he came to her place of employment, asked her to sign some tax documents, and then shot her in the head at close range. At trial he claimed not to recall the actual shooting and sought, but did not receive, instructions on extreme emotional disturbance and the lesser included offense…