State v. Betts

GUNN, Judge.

Defendant-appellant was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of probation or parole for 50 years, the state having waived the death penalty.

The defendant and two others, Dennis Skillcorn and Frank Brooks, planned to burglarize the farm home of Wendell Howell. During the course of the burglary Mr. Howell was killed by a shotgun blast to the head as he lay face down on a couch. Conflicting evidence was introduced as to who shot the victim. Frank Brooks testified for the state that the defendant had announced before the burglary that he…