Wells v. Commonwealth

Judge Cammack

Reversing.

Frank Wells was charged with willful murder. He was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to prison for three years. He is urging a number of grounds for reversal of the judgment but we shall confine our consideration of the case to the ones discussed hereinafter.

Wells, who was town marshal of Fordsville, shot and killed Hobart Fentress on the night of February 22,1949. There is evidence that some time before the shooting Fentress had been drinking. When Fentress, with several companions, left a restaurant in Fordsville, he was followed by the marshal.…