Helton v. State
Decision Date | 07 March 1977 |
Parties | Dennis HELTON, Petitioner, v. STATE of Tennessee, Respondent. |
Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
B. C. McInturff, Kingsport, for petitioner.
David L. Raybin, Asst. Atty. Gen., R. E. Ashley, Jr., Atty. Gen., Nashville, for respondent.
Petitioner, Dennis Helton, was convicted of second degree murder for the slaying of his wife, Linda Helton, and was sentenced to serve fifteen years in the penitentiary. The Court of Criminal Appeals, with one judge dissenting, affirmed the conviction. This court granted certiorari, primarily to determine if the trial judge, as the thirteenth juror, approved the verdict of the jury.
Petitioner and Linda Helton were married on three different occasions. The break-up of the first two marriages was due to Mrs. Helton's association with Jerry Lawson. After the second divorce, Mrs. Helton married Mr. Lawson. The break-up of that marriage was encouraged by petitioner. From these facts and other evidence, it is apparent that most of the turbulence in the relationship between petitioner and Linda Helton had its origin in the attention paid Mrs. Helton by Jerry Lawson.
Mrs. Helton was killed on July 26, 1974, by a shot from a pistol fired by petitioner. Ironically, the killing occurred on the day the Heltons had planned to take their family to Nashville on a "third" honeymoon.
Petitioner's version of events leading up to the shooting and the shooting itself, is set forth in the following statement given the arresting officers:
In addition to the statement, the State's proof showed that Mrs. Helton was found in the front room of the trailer, with one bullet hole in her back. A dish towel was wrapped several times around her right hand in a manner to make it difficult, if not impossible, for her to have held a gun. There was a bullet hole in the door separating the kitchen of the trailer from the living room, indicating that the fatal shot was fired when Mr. Helton was in the kitchen and his wife in the front room. The pistol used in the killing was found to have one spent shell and two live shells in it.
In overruling petitioner's motion for a new trial, which was filed in an effort to set aside the jury's verdict of guilty of second degree murder, the trial judge stated:
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