Court Opinion

ID: 9660233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:08:20.04022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:16.822260
License: Public Domain

CLAYTON, Justice,
dissenting.
In view of the overwhelming weight of the evidence of guilt, I would affirm the conviction. Under our former criminal code, virtually any error was enough to overturn a case involving the death penalty. Under our present criminal code, however, this approach pales in significance because of the aggravation (murder for profit) and mitigation factors present now.
I believe there was competent circumstantial evidence establishing that appellant committed a prior crime using the same common scheme or plan (poison), and was motivated by the same reason (profit), as in the O’Bryan death. The remoteness of Sa-dler’s death should affect only the credibility of the evidence, and I think the peculiarity of death by arsenic poisoning makes it easier to overcome the task of proving commonality than would be true if the deaths were caused by a more typical means.