State v. Burley

Arthur Burley (defendant), who had been drinking all day, shot and killed his ex-wife, Debbie Glines, in the kitchen of their former home. He initially claimed the gun discharged accidentally while he was cleaning it, but under police questioning admitted he had loaded the gun himself that day, knew how to handle firearms safely, and eventually admitted he wasn't cleaning the gun at all but was fooling around with it when it fired, ultimately conceding that at the moment of the shot he was crouched in the kitchen entryway, elbows on his raised knees, pointing the gun at Glines. Burley was convicted of second-degree murder for recklessly causing her death, and appealed, arguing the evidence was insufficient to show he acted with extreme indifference to human life.