Lee v. State

On May 9, 1957 the appellant, Leo Lee, was charged with murder in the first degree in the killing of another Negro, William
Harrison Smith Jr., on December 26, 1956. The information [229 Ark Page 356] was amended on July 23, 1957, by additionally
charging appellant with the commission of the homicide while in the attempt to perpetrate the crime of rape upon the person
of Grace Helen Hays. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of first degree murder without recommending a life sentence and
the trial court thereupon assessed the death penalty. In his motion for new trial, the appellant first questions the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. He earnestly
contends there is a lack of sufficient evidence to show either that he assaulted and killed Smith with malice aforethought,
premeditation and deliberation or that he did so in the attempt to perpetrate a rape upon the Hays girl.