State v. Silvas

372 P.2d 718, 91 Ariz. 386, 1962 Ariz. LEXIS 306
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJune 27, 1962
Docket1175
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 372 P.2d 718 (State v. Silvas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Silvas, 372 P.2d 718, 91 Ariz. 386, 1962 Ariz. LEXIS 306 (Ark. 1962).

Opinion

JENNINGS, Justice.

Defendant, Manuel Estrella Silvas, was tried and convicted of first degree murder. Erom the conviction and a sentence of death he appeals. The material facts, pursuant to our usual rule, will be stated in the light most favorable to sustaining the conviction. State v. McGee, 91 Ariz. 101, 370 P.2d 261 (1962) ; State v. Evans, 88 Ariz. 364, 356 P.2d 1106 (1960)

The defendant, a married man, lived with his family in Coolidge, Arizona, where he operated a small tavern. Beatriz Mankel, a married woman, resided in Casa Grande, Arizona, with her husband, children and mother. For approximately nine months prior to February 12, 1959, the defendant and Mrs. Mankel had been having an affair. Defendant had acknowledged his illicit romance to his wife although not as to the woman’s name or place of residence.

On February 11, 1959, shortly before 11 p. m. the defendant called his wife from the tavern he operated and told her the “woman” wanted to see him once more *388 and she would then leave him alone. 1 Mrs. Silvas asked the defendant if he had been drinking and he admitted he had been. She thereupon told him if he didn’t feel good he should close the bar early and come home which he did. After arriving home, defendant quarreled with his wife over whether he should go see this other woman. Shortly after 11 p. m. defendant left the house with a gun. He was later seen in the New Deal Bar and the Wonder Bar in Casa Grande.

At approximately 1 a. m. Mrs. Mankel’s mother, Angelita Olmos, heard someone at the front door of the Mankel house. She aroused her daughter who went to the door. Mrs. Olmos heard an argument lasting approximately fifteen or twenty minutes between her daughter and a man, whom she identified by voice as the defendant. Upon hearing six shots from a gun she rushed from her bedroom and ran outside, thinking they had come from outside the home. She then returned to the living room where she found her daughter slumped on the couch bleeding profusely. Her daughter was alive but expired shortly thereafter.

The defendant surrendered himself at the Casa Grande Police Department at approximately 5 a. m. He had with him a .38 caliber revolver containing six fired shells. A full statement was taken from him wherein he admitted shooting the decedent at her home.

Defendant made six assignments of error which will be considered in the order made. His first assignment is that the trial court erred in refusing to grant defendant’s motion for a directed verdict. He contends that he was entitled to a directed verdict of not guilty since there was no evidence that the bullet wounds allegedly inflicted by defendant 'caused decedent’s death.

The doctor 2 who performed the autopsy on decedent testified that there were seventeen wounds in decedent’s body. 3 Defendant therefore asserts the proposition that since there was an odd number of holes in the decedent’s body and no bullet remained in her body 4 at least one wound *389 was not a bullet wound for “it is the simple physical law that a bullet which passes through a human body * * * must leave an even number of holes.” He argues that since there is no evidence that any one wound or any combination of wounds caused or would have caused death, and one wound couldn’t have been caused by a bullet, it is possible decedent died solely from the “mystery wound.” 5 He contends that in view of the circumstances surrounding the decedent’s death (an adulterous wife entertaining her paramour in the darkened living room of the home wherein her mother and husband were) that someone, in a frenzy of anger, may have administered the “mystery wound” which at least contributed to and perhaps may have caused the death of the decedent.

Although it is apparent from examining the testimony of the witnesses that there is some conflict surrounding the events on the night of the shooting 6 it is not disputed that defendant called upon the defendent and that he fired the shots. There is no intimation anywhere throughout the record that anyone else had anything to do with the shooting other than the defendant. Nor is there any evidence that the decedent died by other than “multiple gunshot wounds.” 7

Rule 270 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S., provides that “if * * * the court is of the opinion that the evidence is insufficient to warrant a conviction, it may, and on the motion of the defendant shall, direct the jury to acquit the defendant.” However, there *390 is no duty on the part of the court to direct an acquittal where there is substantial evidence that the defendant committed the crime of which he is accused. State v. Merryman, 79 Ariz. 73, 283 P.2d 239 (1955); State v. King, 66 Ariz. 42, 182 P.2d 915 (1947). In the case at bar the trial court felt the evidence was sufficiently strong to go to the jury. It did not err since there was substantial evidence that defendant committed the crime.

Defendant’s second assignment of error is that the court erred in determining defendant was able to understand the proceedings and to assist in his defense. He contends that the requirements of Rule 250, Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, were not met. 8

On the fifth day of the trial, counsel for defendant advised the court that he was having difficulty in communicating with his client. Under the provisions of Rule 250 the court directed that defendant be transferred to the Camelback Sanitarium for examination by two psychiatrists, doctors William B. McGrath and Otto L. Bendheim. 9 A hearing was then held pursuant to Rule 250. At the hearing Dr. McGrath testified that although defendant was suffering from an emotional disturbance called a “disassociative reaction” (a form of hysterical reaction to stress) he was able to understand the proceedings against him and to assist in his defense. According to the testimony of Dr. McGrath the question was not whether defendant was able to assist in his defense, but rather whether he was willing to so assist. He testified as follows:

“Q [By defendant’s counsel] In other words, if I now ask him what he *391 proposes to testify to in this case when he takes the witness stand and he refers me to the Bible in response thereto, would you not say he was to that extent unable to assist his counsel in this case ?
“A No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
372 P.2d 718, 91 Ariz. 386, 1962 Ariz. LEXIS 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-silvas-ariz-1962.