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Commonwealth v. Carroll
The Loaded Gun on the Windowsill
The facts
The Defendant married his wife in 1955 while serving in the Army. Over the following years, his wife's demands forced him to make increasingly costly career sacrifices: she insisted on his transfer home from overseas, then eventually that he resign from the Army in July 1960, ending a career in which he had reached Chief Warrant Officer. His wife subsequently suffered a head injury and was diagnosed with a schizoid personality disorder; she periodically felt like hurting their children and disciplined them violently. In January 1962, the Defendant was away for nine days at an electronics school. During his absence, his wife asked him to place a loaded handgun on the bedroom windowsill for her protection — he complied when he returned. He was then assigned to teach at an out-of-town school for ten weeks, requiring him to be away four nights per week. Between 3:00 and 4:00 AM on an unspecified night, his wife lay with her back to him, making hostile comments. She told him she would leave him if he accepted the teaching post. Approximately five minutes after her last remark, the Defendant reached up, took the loaded pistol from the windowsill, and shot her twice in the back of the head. He then attempted to hide the murder by wrapping her body in a blanket and leaving it near a trash dump. The Defendant was tried by a judge without a jury after pleading guilty generally to the murder charge.
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