Associated Press - August 18, 2010 8:15 PM ET
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The state Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a Rio Arriba County man for killing a good Samaritan who tried to help the man's girlfriend after the man ran over her during a domestic dispute.
Christopher Branch was sentenced to life in prison and 12 1/2 years for convictions of murder and other charges.
Branch ran over his girlfriend near Hernandez in April 2007. Three motorists stopped to help her and Branch hit 1 of them, Michael Rutkowski of nearby Mendanales, with his truck. The girlfriend survived.
The Supreme Court said evidence of Branch's prior robbery conviction was wrongly admitted as evidence during his trial but it was "harmless error." Only the murder charge was on appeal before the court.
A compilation of daily news articles from around the United States about deaths (including both people and animals) that appear to occur in the context of a past or present intimate relationship, focusing on 2009-present. (NOTE: this blog is limited to incidents that appear in the media and are captured by our search terms. We recognize this is not an exhaustive portrayal of all deaths resulting from intimate violence.) When is society going to realize intimate violence makes victims of us all?
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