Home/Supreme Court of Iowa/State v. Hillman

State v. Hillman

285 N.W. 176, 226 Iowa 932
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 4, 1939
DocketNo. 44423.
StatusPublished

This text of 285 N.W. 176 (State v. Hillman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hillman, 285 N.W. 176, 226 Iowa 932 (iowa 1939).

Opinion

Mitchell, C. J.

The grand jury of the county of Ida returned an indictment accusing Albert Hillman of the crime of murder; that on the 3d day of June 1937, in the perpetration of á robbery of Clifton C. Watts, he murdered him. At the *933 request of the defendant the court appointed counsel to represent him. He entered a plea of not guilty. There was a trial to a jury which returned a verdict finding him guilty of the crime of manslaughter. Defendant has appealed.

Clifton C. Watts was at the time of his death 51 years of age. Since 1931 he had resided with his family consisting of his wife and four sons in the town of Arthur, Iowa, which village is located about six miles east of Ida Grove. He was a laborer engaged in road work, and employed by the Sani Construction Company, paving contractors on a project north of Holstein, Iowa.

Albert Hillman, a man of about 40 years of age, a World War veteran, resided with his family consisting of his wife and four children in Ida Grove. He was a trucker working on the same project north of Holstein, Iowa, for the Sani Construction Company, as was Clifton C. Watts. These men had been friends for years.

On the night of June 2, Hillman's truck had burned en-route from Holstein, Iowa, to Ida Grove. The next morning one of his friends helped tow the truck into town. Between ten and ten-thirty that morning he went to the Stern pool hall located in the basement of the Baxter Block, at the corner of Second and Main streets in the city of Ida Grove. The pool hall apparently was on the south side of Main street and was entered by a stairs descending from the highway at the northwest corner of the basement. The door at the foot of the stairs opened into the north or front room in which there were two pool tables. The back room opened off of the front room to the south. At the entrance to the back room there was a candy case along the east wall. Near the southwest corner of the back room was a wall ease eight feet long and two feet wide. Opposite this to the east was a circular card table, and,north and east thereof against the east wall was a slot machine, the only description of which is that it was known as the “one armed bandit” type operating with automatic coin pay-off.

So that the pool hall where this tragedy took place may be better understood, exhibit A, the sketch of same is inserted.

*934

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Related

State v. Korth
217 N.W. 286 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)
State v. Morphy
33 Iowa 270 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1871)
State v. Giudice
170 Iowa 731 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
285 N.W. 176, 226 Iowa 932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hillman-iowa-1939.