Danforth v. Danforth

Loretta Ollison Danforth (defendant), 21 years old, married Duncan R. Danforth, 75 years old, on August 13, 1980. A few hours earlier, Duncan executed a will giving Loretta over half of his estate and revoking a 1978 will that had split Duncan’s estate between two of his children, Frank Danforth and Janette Barb (plaintiffs). Before and after her wedding, Loretta lived with her boyfriend, Mike Stith, at her mother’s house. On August 12, 1980, Stith and Loretta met with Harrison Williams, who was the boyfriend of Stith’s aunt, and Williams’s friend Jack Peary to plan Duncan’s murder. The plan was for Williams and Peary to kill Duncan at the hotel where Loretta and Duncan were spending their wedding night. On the evening of August 13, Duncan and Loretta went to the hotel after their wedding, but Williams and Peary kept giving Loretta different excuses why they could not kill Duncan. Loretta kept developing new plans, and Williams and Peary kept coming up with new excuses. The next day, Duncan returned to his home without Loretta. Duncan complained that his honeymoon was unsatisfactory because Loretta would not touch him and kept making excuses to leave the room. Duncan told Frank that he would annul the marriage if Loretta would not come live with him. On August 17, Duncan left to go to house of Loretta’s mother to discuss his and Loretta’s marriage. Duncan was found shot to death on a rural road. On August 18, Stith told Williams the job had taken care of itself. Frank and Janette filed a petition challenging Duncan’s 1980 will, claiming it was procured by fraud. Frank and Janette alleged that Loretta falsely represented to Duncan that she loved him to induce Duncan into executing a will giving Loretta much of his estate. At trial, Frank and Janette presented evidence of Loretta’s actions to procure Duncan’s murder. The jury set aside the 1980 will. Loretta appealed, arguing, among other things, that Frank and Janette’s claim did not plead fraud with sufficient particularity and the trial court should not have admitted evidence of Loretta’s plans to murder Duncan.