This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Botkin (D) mailed a box of poisoned candy from California to Delaware. D wanted Elizabeth Dunning to eat the candy and die. Dunning was killed. D was charged under a California statute that permitted prosecution of a person if part of a crime was committed in California. D was convicted of murder. D appealed; the actual eating and death took place in another state and therefore California had no jurisdiction.

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Legal analysis from Dean's Law Dictionary will be displayed here.