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State
v. Forrest
Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1987.
Author: Jim
Facts:
Defendant’s father was seriously ill and the doctors had
declared his ailments to be untreatable and terminal. The
defendant went to the hospital and after observing the state his
father was in, shot the father in the head with a revolver.
Procedure:
The jury convicted the defendant of first degree murder.
Issue:
Was there deliberation and premeditation present in the crime in
order to establish elements of 1st degree murder?
Holding:
Yes
Rationale:
The elements of premeditation and deliberation must be determined
from the circumstantial evidence. In the current case, the
father did not provoke the defendant and the father laid on the
bed helpless. The defendant used a five-shot single-action
gun which had to be cocked each time before it fired. The
defendant openly stated that he was putting his father out of his
misery. From totality of the evidence, it can be seen that
the defendant premeditated and deliberated the killing of his
father. Therefore the trial court did not err when it
submitted to the jury the issue of 1st degree murder.
Comment:
Compare this case with Midgett v. State . Who said
law was fair!
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