People v. Anderson

Facts

The Defendant and Mr. Kiern were among a group of individuals who suspected that the victim, Margaret Armstrong (Ms. Armstrong), had been molesting two young girls. Ms. Armstrong resided in a camp, and the group went there to confront her. The group dragged Ms. Armstrong to a field, beat her, covered her mouth with duct tape and left her tied to a bush naked. Later, the Defendant and Mr. Kiern saw Ms. Armstrong running naked from the field. They grabbed her and forced her into Mr. Kiern’s car. Then, the Defendant and Mr. Kiern put her in a sleeping bag, which they bound with duct tape, and shoved her into Mr. Kiern’s trunk. The Defendant picked up a large rock and handed it to Mr. Kiern, who silenced Ms. Armstrong by hitting her over the head with the rock. The defendant also hit Ms. Armstrong with a small boulder. Witnesses stated that Mr. Kiern recounted that he killed Armstrong by stepping on her neck until it crunched. The two men then dumped the body into a ravine. The tw o men’s stories conflicted on who the aggressor was in the murder, but for the purposes of this case, the Defendant claims that Mr. Kiern threatened to “beat the shit” out of him if he did not hand him a rock.