Thelma Robinson v. State Indiana

Appellant was tried by a jury on an indictment charging her with second degree murder in the death of her fifteen-month-old son. The jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The Court sentenced her to imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than twenty-one years. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court for the failure of the trial court to give a tendered instruction to the effect that if motive had not been proved then that lack of proof was a circumstance favoring the defendant. Robinson v. State (1974), Ind. App., 309 N.E.2d 833, modified, 311 N.E.2d 461.