Wisdom v. State

1996 OK CR 22, 918 P.2d 384, 67 O.B.A.J. 1846, 1996 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 24, 1996 WL 282879
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 22, 1996
DocketF-94-861
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 1996 OK CR 22 (Wisdom v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wisdom v. State, 1996 OK CR 22, 918 P.2d 384, 67 O.B.A.J. 1846, 1996 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 24, 1996 WL 282879 (Okla. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

OPINION

STRUBHAR, Judge:

Appellant, Johnson Wisdom, was charged with First Degree Murder in violation of 21 O.S.1991, § 701.7, in the District Court of Johnston County, Case No. CF-94-10. The State filed a Bill of Particulars alleging that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. The jury found Appellant guilty of the crime charged and found the alleged aggravating circumstance to exist. Appellant was sentenced to death. From this judgment and sentence Appellant has perfected his appeal to this Court.

FACTS

Three and one-half year-old Alton Wisdom was admitted to the emergency room at Valley View Regional Hospital in Ada, Oklahoma, shortly before 9:00 p.m. on February 1, 1994. The child was stuporous, unresponsive and had one fixed pupil. His body and head were covered with several bruises. A CAT scan showed him to have a large sub-dural hematoma over the left hemisphere of his brain. Subsequent surgery and other treatment failed to remedy the brain injury. The child remained comatose and never regained consciousness. When he was finally diagnosed to be brain dead, the respirator was turned off and the child died on February 8,1994.

Johnston County Deputy Sheriff, Vernon Williams, was called shortly after Alton was taken to the emergency room by his mother, Polly Wisdom, and Appellant. After Williams arrived at the hospital, he met with Polly who told him she had knocked the child off the porch. Next, Williams met with Appellant who told him that he was not present when Alton was injured but Polly had told him Alton had fallen from the porch. After Appellant was interviewed, Williams spoke again with Polly who told him that at around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. on February 1, she went to town with her other two children, Jerry and Michelle. She said she wanted to take Alton with her but Appellant wouldn’t let her. While they were gone, Alton was left alone with Appellant. When they arrived home approximately two hours later, at 7:00 or 8:00 p.m., Alton was lying on a mattress in the living room and Appellant was kneeling over him. Alton was unconscious but breathing. Polly told Appellant they would have to take Alton to the hospital. Appellant did not want to because he feared that he would be arrested. Appellant and Polly agreed to make up a story so he would not be arrested. Based upon the story Polly told during this second interview, Appellant was arrested for child abuse.

After Appellant’s arrest, he was interviewed the following day, February 2, at the Johnston County Sheriffs Office by Criminal Investigator Judy Hutchins. This interview, which was video-taped, took place after Appellant was advised of his Miranda1 rights. Appellant told Hutchins that when he and Polly were married he wanted to have another baby but Polly said she couldn’t. Then, Polly became pregnant by another man and divorced Appellant. Polly and Appellant got [388]*388back together but Appellant resented Alton because he was another man’s child. Because of Appellant’s feelings toward Alton, he had a difficult time being around him and feared he would seriously injure Alton. Appellant told Hutchins he had been hitting and injuring Alton since August.

When speaking specifically about what had happened the previous day, Appellant mentioned several things he had done to Alton with the intention of hurting him and making him cry. He remembered he had hit Alton’s head with the palm of his hand several times — possibly more than five times. He had also knocked Alton off the porch twice while playing basketball with him. When Alton was on the ground, Appellant had rolled over the child’s head a couple of times.

At trial, Dr. Charles Borne, the neurosurgeon who treated Alton, testified on direct examination that the head injury Alton had sustained, a subdural hematoma, was under twelve hours old when he discovered it. Dr. Borne testified that this injury could have been caused by numerous strikes to the head with an open hand. On cross examination, Dr. Borne acknowledged that he had in an earlier report found that the injury was from twelve to twenty-four hours old when he discovered it. He acknowledged at trial that this was possible. It was also revealed on cross examination that in this earlier report, Dr. Borne had found the most likely cause of the hematoma to be severe shaking of the child. Dr. Borne testified that such was his opinion at the time he made the report and he still held that opinion. He explained that this type of injury occurs when the head rotates back and forth and the brain becomes injured by bumping into the skull. This type of injury is compatible with the severe shaking of a child. The doctor also noted that bruises found on the child’s back and shoulders were compatible with this as well.

PROPOSITIONS RELATING TO FIRST STAGE PROCEEDINGS

Appellant argues in his first proposition that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. The evidence relied upon by the State at trial was both direct and circumstantial. Accordingly, this Court will sustain Appellant’s conviction if, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, this Court determines that any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charge to exist beyond a reasonable doubt. Spuehler v. State, 709 P.2d 202, 203 (Okl.Cr.1985).

Appellant notes that expert testimony indicated the cause of death was the subdural hematoma and its resulting injury to the brain. It is not with the cause of death that Appellant takes issue, but rather with the evidence of how the injury was caused. Dr. Borne testified specifically about two actions which could have caused this injury, severe shaking and repeated hitting of the child’s head with the palm of an open hand. While Appellant did not confess to shaking the child, and no evidence was introduced which indicated that he had shaken the child, Appellant did confess to having repeatedly hit the child’s head with the palm of his hand a few hours before the child was taken to the hospital.

It is Appellant’s position that the State’s case falls short of proving that the subdural hematoma was caused by repetitive blows to the child’s head. Appellant argues that this possibility goes against the weight of the circumstantial evidence. He maintains that a repeated slapping across the head would necessarily result in a side to side motion which would not cause the injury suffered in this case. With this argument Appellant disregards the possibility that the child could have been repeatedly slapped on the back of his head thereby causing the front to back head rotation that could have resulted in the type of injury incurred in this case. Appellant also argues that the bruises found on the child’s shoulders and back corroborate shaking and not slapping. While Dr. Borne did testify that these bruises were consistent with the child having been shaken, this does not diminish the possibility that the admitted blows to the child’s head caused the hemato-ma. Finally, Appellant finds it significant that there was no testimony regarding external injuries to the scalp. Acknowledging that he observed no scalp bruises when he first examined the child, Dr. Borne testified that there may not have been time for bruis[389]*389es to form since the child had been injured. This, again, does not diminish the possibility that the fatal hematoma was inflicted by Appellant’s repeated strikes to the child’s head.

The facts indicate that the child died of a subdural hematoma. The injury could have been under twelve hours old when discovered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1996 OK CR 22, 918 P.2d 384, 67 O.B.A.J. 1846, 1996 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 24, 1996 WL 282879, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wisdom-v-state-oklacrimapp-1996.