People v. Williams

187 Cal. App. 2d 355, 9 Cal. Rptr. 722, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1396
California Court of Appeal·Decided December 14, 1960·No. Crim. 7146·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

ASHBURN, J.

Defendant was convicted of the murder of Margarete Heitmiller, murder in the first degree with life imprisonment fixed as the penalty. He appeals from the judgment and an order denying his motion for new trial.

Counsel make no claim of insufficiency of the evidence but advance numerous assignments of error claimed to be prejudicial. One of them centers upon the exclusion of *357 certain proffered evidence concerning the propensity of decedent after drinking a small amount of alcohol to suffer convulsive episodes leading to numerous injuries of her person. This evidence was offered as corroboration of defendant’s testimony as to the events immediately preceding Margarete’s death. Appellant’s brief thus summarizes the purpose and effect of the excluded evidence: “That the evidence concerning the mental capacity, physical condition and past conduct of the decedent, if admitted into evidence would have corroborated the testimony of the defendant. The testimony of the defendant without the corroboration of the rather weird and psychotic behavior of the decedent appeared to be unbelievable and thus was extremely prejudicial to the defendant. . . . Clear examples of the miscarriage occasioned by this ruling is demonstrated when the defendant testified as to a sort of skip-step the deceased was doing the night of the incident, the propensity of the decedent to run in the streets after consuming small quantities of beer, the pounding of her own head against a concrete floor, the jumping out of a window in response to a non-existent danger, the antagonism against her family and public authorities and the numerous self-inflicted strangulations which resulted in bruises primarily on one side of the throat of the deceased. That each of these events found their counterpart in the testimony introduced at the time of trial. ’ ’

The condition of decedent’s body was such that Dr. Kade, deputy medical examiner and autopsy surgeon in the coroner’s office, expressed the opinion that the cause of death was a fractured skull with lacerated brain, fractured fourth cervical vertebra (broken neck) and other injuries; that the body showed a %-ineh laceration of the scalp to the left of the vertex, and a %-inch by y^-rnah T-shaped laceration of the right occipital area of the scalp; a reddish purple discoloration and swelling about the left eye, which would commonly be called a black eye; scattered abrasions of the left side of the forehead and of the right cheek, right upper lip and undersurface of the right side of the chin; a large area of ecehymosis and discoloration of the left side of the neck; zones of ecehymosis on both upper arms; a scratch mark over the right clavicle, the collar bone; zones of abrasion about both elbows and the left forearm; a bluish discolored area on the back of the left hand; zones of abrasion on both lateral aspects of the torso; marked ecehymosis and swelling of the right labia, extending as far as the margin of the vagina; *358 ecchymosis and swelling of the internal surface of the left thigh, just below the buttocks; linear abrasion on the anterior aspect of the left thigh; kneecap areas skinned and bruised, and a zone of ecchymosis on the posterior aspect of the right thigh, just above the knee. The lungs were congested and partially filled with accumulated blood, but showed no pneumonia or lung disease which might account for the death. An examination of the upper wind passages showed an area of hemorrhage on the left side of the voice box, which corresponded to the bruised area on the left side of the neck; this mark showed that considerable pressure had been applied, which had caused an injury in that area; the size and position of the last mentioned mark, as well as one on the opposite side of the neck were in characteristic position, location and size for manual strangulation, commonly known as being throttled or choked to death. The witness further said there was no evidence of injury to internal organs nor evidence of any intestinal or stomach diseases. Also, that there was a fracture of the second rib, which is immediately below the collarbone, about 4 or 3 inches to the right of the center of the body. There were no cuts or tears on the lung as a result of that rib fracture. There was also a fracture of the fourth cervical vertebra, eliciting distinct abnormal motility and crepitation of the fragments on gyration and rotation of the head. The amount of shift, caused by this injury, indicated that the spinal cord was bruised by the shifting of those bones. Turning back the scalp, there was revealed extensive hemorrhage beneath the lacerations on the scalp, which were previously described. There was considerable hemorrhaging around the brain, but no signs of any antecedent disease therein. The spinal cord revealed a zone of softening and hemorrhages into the surrounding membranes at approximately the same level as the fourth cervical vertebra. The cord itself was definitely bruised, but wasn’t completely cut across or torn. Considerable skull fracture was also revealed. In the opinion of Dr. Kade, these lacerations of the brain occurred as the result of impact striking the back of the head. The results of an examination of the deceased’s blood revealed no evidence of alcohol. All of the above injuries had occurred in the period immediately preceding death. In his opinion, these injuries might conceivably have resulted from a single fall out of a fourth, fifth or sixth-story window, but they could not have occurred from a single fall while deceased was standing on the ground. In order to sustain the described injuries de *359 ceased would have to fall once, striking the top of her head; fall again, to get the bruises on the knees; fall once more, striking the back of her head, to get the skull fracture; “just about have to drop on the top of his [her] head,” in order to get the broken neck; fall flat on her back, in order to get the back injuries; fall flat forward on her face, in order to get the injuries to the front of the face and the front portion of her body; and would have had to fall once on each side, in order to get the side injuries; unless she was striking a number of different objects in falling, as from a high distance.

In the doctor’s opinion, a fractured skull may result from a standing fall, but it would be extremely unlikely for a broken neck to result from a simple fall, and he had never seen any case of strangulation caused by a fall, nor could the injury to deceased’s private parts have been caused by a fall — it could only have occurred as the result of a kick; nor could the lacerated brain have been caused by a single shake. Taking all the injuries together, Dr. Kade was of the opinion that they were caused by deceased being held around the neck while lying face upward on the floor, and having her head pounded against the floor, thus fracturing the skull, breaking the neck, and causing the marks of strangulation at the same time.

All of the other injuries found by Dr. Kade, in his opinion, must have occurred immediately, or shortly, preceding death. He concluded that the skull fracture, with resultant hemorrhage about the brain, would have been fatal in itself, as would have been the broken neck, with the resultant injury to the spinal cord. He could form no opinion as to the possibility of the strangulation having been fatal in itself.

Dr.

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People v. Williams, 187 Cal. App. 2d 355, 9 Cal. Rptr. 722, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1396 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

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