People v. Coltrin

55 P.2d 1161, 5 Cal. 2d 649, 1936 Cal. LEXIS 446
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1936
DocketCrim. 3926
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 55 P.2d 1161 (People v. Coltrin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Coltrin, 55 P.2d 1161, 5 Cal. 2d 649, 1936 Cal. LEXIS 446 (Cal. 1936).

Opinion

SEAWELL, J.

Further examination of the questions of law raised by petitioner, appellant herein, in his petition which caused this court to grant a hearing, has satisfied us that the reasoning and the conclusion reached by the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, opinion by Barnard, P. J., are sound, and that the questions presented on appeal were correctly decided.

We herewith adopt the opinion and decision of that court as and for the decision of this court. The opinion follows:

“The defendant was charged with the crime of abortion and, in a second count, with the crime of murder. He was convicted of abortion on the first count and of murder in the second degree on the second count and sentenced on both, the sentences to run concurrently. This appeal is from the judgments and from orders denying motions for a new trial.
“It is contended that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the verdict. The appellant is a physician 77 years of age, and the two charges arose out of his treatment of a girl 16 years old and her subsequent, death. The defense was that the appellant merely made an examination of the girl to determine whether or not she was pregnant, that he found she *653 had previously aborted, and that all he did was to clean up and treat the condition he found.
“Another doctor testified that the girl came to him on January 19, 1935; that he made a complete examination of her, with a Friedman test, and found that she was a perfectly healthy girl who was six weeks pregnant; that he saw her again on January 20 and January 24; that she admitted to him that she had taken some medicine and drugs but that on these three occasions there was no evidence of any interference, either medical or surgical, which would cause a miscarriage ; that he himself used no medicine and no instruments but merely determined her condition; and that, in his opinion, an abortion was not necessary to save her life. The mother of the girl testified that on January 30, 1935, she went with the girl to the office of the defendant; that she told him the girl was in trouble and wanted to have something ■ done'; that the defendant replied he thought he could do something ; that she asked what he charged for an operation like that to which he replied $50; that after some talk he agreed to do it for $35 and told them to come back on February 4, 1935, at 8:30 a. m.; that they returned at that time and she told the appellant she only had $20; that the appellant accepted this amount with the girl’s watch; that when they went there the girl was suffering no pain and was not flowing; that the appellant administered a hypodermic and took her daughter to another room; that about an hour later she went into this room and her daughter was on an operating table; that the girl was then removed to a bed to remain until she became conscious; that fifteen or twenty minutes later the appellant administered another hypodermic; that the girl was bleeding and a napkin was placed upon her; that she was taken home about one o’clock; that the girl was suffering pain in the abdomen from the time she was brought home; and that the next morning another doctor was called.
‘ ‘ The girl was taken to the hospital on February 9 and died on February 14, 1935.
“A doctor who performed an autopsy testified that he found a piece of placential tissue, a tissue which results from conception, in the uterus; that death came from peritonitis; that this girl had been ' operatively manipulated’ causing this infection; and that, in his opinion, as a result of the examina *654 tion, an instrument had been used and peritonitis was caused by ‘instrumentation’. Another doctor, who treated the girl from February 9 until her death and who assisted in the autopsy, testified that the cervical canal was unduly enlarged, congested, red and gave the appearance of trauma, a bruising of the tissues in that area. He expressed an opinion that an instrument had been inserted, basing the same upon the fact that the living tissues of the cervix were traumatized. Both of these doctors expressed the opinion that an abortion was not necessary to save the girl’s life.
“The defendant testified that on January 30, the girl and her mother came to his office; that the mother told him she had just discovered that the girl was in a delicate way and wanted to know if there was anything he could do or would do that could be safely done to help her out of it; that he told her to bring the girl in on February 4 and he would make an examination and see whether or not she was pregnant and if she was what might be the best thing to do about it; that he told her the charge would be $35; that this charge was for an examination to ascertain whether or not she was pregnant; that the mother told him she knew her daughter was pregnant but that this did not mean anything to him, as she might be mistaken; that on February 4 the mother gave him $20 and a watch that belonged to the girl; that he gave the girl a hypodermic injection and then an anaesthetic; and that he then made an examination to find out whether or not she was pregnant. He then testified that in making the examination some blood and a blood clot came out on his hand so he inserted a speculum to enable him to look at the cervix; that he found a tear or laceration in the uterus about an inch- long and knew at once that ‘there had been some meddling there’; that he decided to explore the uterus to see if she had aborted and if it was a complete abortion; that he did not find any part- of the fetus and that he then ‘gave it up’ and merely irrigated the parts and did what he could to prevent a possible infection. While at the trial the appellant denied he had intended to perform an abortion in case he found the girl pregnant, his testimony before the grand jury was admitted in which he frankly stated that he intended to do so and that he told them to come on February 4 for that purpose.
*655 “The appellant’s nurse testified that she was present when the appellant examined the deceased; that the appellant ‘inserted his two fingers and his hand was full of blood’; that the appellant then put the girl under an anaesthetic and inserted a speculum and opened it up and called her attention to a laceration which she says she observed; that the appellant then took a little instrument and took out some blood clots and did nothing more except to wash the patient and put some medicine in her. The two doctors who performed the autopsy testified that at that time they found no such laceration as that described by the appellant and produced the uterus which had been taken from the girl, which showed no such laceration. There was evidence that such a laceration as that described by the appellant if it had existed on February 4 would have been visible on February 14, and that the uterus when introduced in evidence was in the same condition as when taken -from the body except that it had been cut open to permit inspection and except for the action of the preservative in which it was kept, and that neither of these would have affected the laceration in question. The defendant himself admitted before the grand jury that the laceration he observed on February 4, 1935, would not have healed before the death of the patient on February 14 and would still have been noticeable at that time.

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Bluebook (online)
55 P.2d 1161, 5 Cal. 2d 649, 1936 Cal. LEXIS 446, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-coltrin-cal-1936.