P. v. Pulley
Defendant Robert G. Pulley appeals from a judgment of conviction entered after a jury convicted him of second degree murder, battery, and making a criminal threat. The murder victim was Pulley's neighbor. The victim of the battery and criminal threat was Pulley's son.
On appeal, Pulley contends that there is insufficient evidence to support the murder conviction. He first argues that his conviction for second degree murder based on the shooting of his neighbor must be reversed because "the only reasonable conclusion from the evidence was that [he] acted with the legal justification of defending against harm to a person within one's home or . . . his property." He argues in the alternative that even if this court does not agree that the evidence demonstrated that his act of shooting his neighbor was justified, his conviction for second degree murder should be reduced to voluntary manslaughter because the evidence supports a finding that he acted under the heat of passion, and does not support a finding that he acted with implied or express malice.
Pulley also contends that the trial court should have granted his motion to sever for trial a fourth count charging him with making a criminal threat against his wife—a count on which he was acquitted—from the other three counts in the case.
We reject all of Pulley's contentions on appeal, and affirm the judgment.
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