State of Missouri, Respondent v. Donald R. Nash, Appellant

Summary

The Court affirmed Nash’s capital-murder conviction and life sentence, holding that the 1978 murder statute remained applicable to a murder committed before the effective date of the 1983 replacement statutes. It further held that the evidence, including Nash’s DNA under the victim’s fingernails and other circumstantial evidence, was sufficient; that a separate circumstantial-evidence instruction was unnecessary; and that Missouri’s direct-connection rule for third-person-guilt evidence was constitutional and properly applied. No separate opinions were filed.