State V. Damms

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Izac Deharo Criminal Law State v. Damms 100 N.W.2d 592 (Wis. 1960) Facts: The alleged crime occurred on April 6, 1959, near Menomonee Falls in Waukesha County. Prior to that date Marjory Damms, wife of the defendant, had instituted an action for divorce against him and the parties lived apart. She was 39 years old and he 33 ears of age. Marjory Damms was also estranged from her mother, Mrs. Laura Grant. That morning, a little before eight o’clock, Damms drove his automobile to the vicinity in Milwaukee where he knew Mrs. Dams would take the bus to go to work. He saw her walking along the sidewalk, stopped, and induced her to enter the car by falsely stating that Mrs. Grant was ill and dying. They drove to Mrs. Grant’s home. Mrs. Damms then discovered that her mother was up and about and not seriously ill. Nevertheless, the two Damms remained there nearly two hours conversing and drinking coffee. Apparently, it was the intention of Damms to induce reconciliation between mother and daughter, hoping it would result in one between himself and his wife, but not much progress was achieved in such direction. At the conclusion of the conversation, Mrs. Damms expressed the wish to phone for a taxicab to take her to work. Damms insisted on her getting into his car, and said he would drive her to work. They again entered his car, but instead of driving south toward her place of employment, he drove in the opposite direction. Some conversation was had in which he stated that it was possible for a person to die quickly and not be able to make amends for anything done in the past, and he referred to the possibility of “judgment day” occurring suddenly. Mrs. Damms’ testimony as to what then took place is as follow: “when he was telling me about this being judgment day, he pulled a cardboard box from under the seat of the car and brought it up to the seat and
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