People v. Jiménez Toledo

78 P.R. 7
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 15, 1955
DocketNo. 15731
StatusPublished

This text of 78 P.R. 7 (People v. Jiménez Toledo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Jiménez Toledo, 78 P.R. 7 (prsupreme 1955).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Sipre

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court, Arecibo Part, sentencing appellant to life imprisonment for murder in the first degree, perpetrated by means of poison. Appellant assigns twelve errors in support of his appeal.

In the first assignment he contends that the verdict of the jury is “erroneous, contrary to the law and to the [9]*9evidence” because the evidence was insufficient to establish the allegations of the information.

The People introduced evidence to prove that on the .morning of April 13, 1950, the appellant gave to Rosa Colón, then about fourteen or fifteen years old, some green powder wrapped in white paper, with the instructions to pour it into a bottle of beer to be taken by Francisca Rivera Chico, so that she would stop drinking, and that Rosa, believing it to be true, poured the powder in a beer she brought to Francisca on that afternoon, at her request, as she was in the habit of doing. Francisca drank the beer and an hour later she started to vomit and complained of stomach pains, being taken to the hospital where she died. The autopsy revealed .a greenish liquid in the stomach, denoting the presence of “Paris green”, a product of heavy, arsenical metal, used frequently in phytopathology; and which is an active poison. 'When the viscera were examined it was found that they contained 0.003 grams of arsenic in the form of arsenic trioxide and 0.0045 grams of copper in the form of copper trioxide in every hundred grams of tissue, which chemical compounds are found in the “Paris green” and which amount of arsenic may cause death, and that said Francisca Rivera died as a result of drinking that dose of poison.

According to the appellant, no evidence was introduced to show that the “green powder was Taris green’ ”, or to prove that he was in the possession of said powder before or immediately after the death of Francisca Rivera, or to •establish “the arsenical or lead content so as to cause the •death of a human being.” The contention lacks merits. The jury had before it ample and sufficient evidence to reach the conclusion that said facts had been properly proved by the People.

In his second assignment, appellant believes the court erred in permitting evidence tending to connect him “with another alleged murder by poison . . .” to go to the jury. [10]*10Some witnesses testified that Francisca had complained of' pains, of stomach ache, of “anxiety pains” (sic) and appellant’s theory is that inasmuch as Rosa Colón testified that Francisca’s mother had died of a “colic pain” and that the appellant was the only person whom she saw by her side,, the prosecuting attorney (with the testimony concerning the death of the mother) meant to inflame the minds of the-jurors by giving them the impression that the defendant, had also poisoned the latter. In support of his contention appellant cites the decision of the Court of Appeals of New York, in People v. Feldman, 296 N. Y. 127, 71 N. E. 2d, 433 (N. Y.), which is clearly distinguishable. Feldman was. prosecuted for the murder of his wife by administering-strychnine. The decedent’s sister testified that she had had. a conversation with Feldman wherein she urged him to permit an autopsy and wherein she mentioned to the accused that the mother of the witness as well as her sister had exhibited before her death some of the same symptoms as-decedent, both crying “Don’t touch my feet”. The judgment rendered against Feldman for murder was reversed, the-Court of Appeals holding that the vice of the testimony, with special reference to the decedent’s outcries, was that. —in the light of other evidence offered in the prosecution that such outcries were characteristic symptoms of strychnine poisoning — it implied that the decedent and her mother —Feldman had lived with both — had died of strychnine poisoning. In the case at bar, there is no evidence that the stomach ache or the “anxiety pain” (sic) is a peculiar or characteristic symptom of poisoning.

Appellant complains that, in charging the jury, the court in referring to Rosa Colon’s testimony said: “And the prosecuting attorney asks her: Do you know if Francisca Rivera. Chico’s mother died? The girl answers: Yes, sir. Do you. know when? Rosa, the witness, answers: I do not remember, I know she died of a colic pain.” That reference to.. [11]*11Rosa Colon’s testimony could not have been prejudicial to the accused for the reason we have just stated in disposing of the first question raised in the assignment.

The third assignment does not require much consideration. The trial court eliminated certain statements made by the witnesses, as being hearsay evidence, and the appellant complains that the jury was not. informed to disregard said evidence. The matter eliminated was unimportant, and assuming that it was taken into consideration by the jury, and there is no reason to assume that it was, it could not have prejudiced appellant’s rights.

In the fourth assignment it is alleged that the court erred in permitting “inadmissible testimony which violates the hearsay ... or opinion evidence rule to go to the jury.” Said testimony was introduced without any objection on the part of the defendant, and it cannot be attacked for the first time on appeal. People v. Ramos, 36 P.R.R. 739. The nature of the evidence does not justify our departure from the doctrine laid down by this Court in that and other decisions.

The People and the defense stipulated that certain persons, if called to the witness stand, would testify what was set forth in the stipulation, and the jury took it to the jury room, with the authorization of the trial court. Appellant contends in the fifth assignment that this was an error, and he bases his contention on the provisions of § 274 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to the effect that: “Upon retiring for deliberation the jury may take with them, all papers (except depositions) which have been received as evidence in the cause . . .” The assignment is without merit. The depositions are excluded because they may contain matter inadmissible as evidence which might have been eliminated from the attention of the jury, 8 Cal. Jur. 391; People v. Barret, 136 Pac. 520 (Cal.), which could not be the case here because the paper in this case, as we have [12]*12seen, was a stipulation consented to by the parties. Furthermore, the jury took with them the stipulation with the -express consent of the defense.

Appellant is not correct in alleging in the sixth assignment that the trial court deprived him “of his constitutional right to a trial by jury . . .” We need not set forth the reasons on which our conclusion is based because it is obvious.

In the seventh assignment it is alleged that the court •erred in failing to give instructions “on circumstantial evidence.” The appellant argues that no evidence was introduced to show, (1) “That the green powder was ‘Paris green’”; (2) “That being ‘Paris green’ it had sufficient arsenic to cause the death of a human being”, (3) “That . . . Francisca Rivera Chico took those green powders, that is, ‘Paris green’ and that they caused her death.” He adds that if the court believed that there was evidence on those points “this was of a purely circumstantial nature” and instructions concerning this kind of evidence should have been given. We are fully convinced that the People introduced evidence to establish the facts to which appellant refers.

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Related

People v. Owens
54 P.2d 728 (California Court of Appeal, 1936)
People v. Barrett
136 P. 520 (California Court of Appeal, 1913)
People v. Davis
293 P. 32 (California Supreme Court, 1930)
People v. Feldman
71 N.E.2d 433 (New York Court of Appeals, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
78 P.R. 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-jimenez-toledo-prsupreme-1955.