State v. Bingham

Bingham (defendant) and Leslie Cook, strangers, got off a bus together and visited several places; three days later Cook's body was found in a field near where they were last seen. Bingham was charged with aggravated first-degree murder, which required proof of premeditation -- defined as deliberately forming and reflecting on the intent to kill. The medical examiner testified Cook died from manual strangulation requiring three to five minutes of pressure on her windpipe, and she had bruises and bite marks. The prosecutor's theory was that Bingham began having sex with Cook while she was alive and strangled her during the act, and argued to the jury that premeditation existed if Bingham formed the intent to kill when he started strangling her and held that intent for the three to five minutes it took her to die. The jury convicted Bingham of first-degree murder, and he appealed.