Nature of the Case
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Facts
D's wife. Becky had been living with Lou Pate two months prior to the homicide. D and his wife were on good terms, and he was in the habit of visiting her and staying one night with her each week or every two weeks. D reached Pate's house about ten o'clock, hitched his horse, and noticed John Thorne's also hitched to the fence. D heard a man and a woman talking in the back room, in which there was no light. D discovered Thorne and Becky in the room, and heard Thorne say, 'Make haste.' D entered the house and discovered his wife and Thorne in the very act of adultery. Both rushed by him through the doorway into the front room. D fired at Thorne and killed his wife. The court instructed the jury 'that murder is the killing of a human being without authority of law, by any means or in any manner, when done with the deliberate design to effect the death of the person killed; and if the jury believe from the evidence in this case, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant so killed the deceased, Becky Rowland, then the jury will find the defendant guilty as charged in the bill of indictment.' D was convicted of murder and appealed.
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