Com. v. Hampton

• Citation: 351 Mass. 447,221 N.E.2d 766
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Katherine HAMPTON.
• Decision Date: 02 December 1966
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Page 766

221 N.E.2d 766

351 Mass. 447

COMMONWEALTH v. Katherine HAMPTON.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Argued Nov. 9, 1966.

Decided Dec. 2, 1966.

Ronald J. Chisholm, Winchester, for defendant.

Newman A. Flanagan, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.

Before WILKINS, C.J., and SPALDING, CUTTER, SPIEGEL and REARDON, JJ.

WILKINS, Chief Justice.

The defendant was convicted upon two indictments: (1) for manslaughter and (2) for assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. The trial was made subject to G.L. c. 278, §§ 33A--33G. The defendant's appeal brings the case here with a summary of the record, a transcript of the evidence, and one assignment of error.

The deceased, Thomas Turner, lived on the second floor in suite 6 at 90 Crawford Street, Boston, with the defendant, who had said she was his wife. Elizabeth Pugh, a witness for the Commonwealth, lived in suite 9 on the third floor directly over suite 6. On December 12, 1965, for two or three hours beginning around 2 p.m. she heard in suite 6 voices which sounded angry and argumentative. Toward 5 P.M. she heard something fall making a thud. About four to five minutes later she heard a pounding on her door. She asked, 'Who is it?' The person identified himself as Turner. She opened the door and saw Turner standing alone all bent over. When she asked what he wanted, he replied, 'Call the police. My wife stabbed me.' She admitted him to her apartment, and he collapsed in a chair. She then observed that he was bleeding from a wound in the left breast and called the police. In another five to seven minutes the defendant came to the apartment. Her right hand was bleeding. The police came and took Turner to the hospital. The foregoing is summarized from the examination of the witness Pugh.

Turner died at the hospital on December 18, 1965. The medical examiner testified that in his opinion death was due to a stab would.

A police officer testified that he went to suite 6 about 4:45 p.m. on December 12, 1965. The living room looked as if a fight had taken place there. The room was upset; a lamp was knocked against the wall; a phonograph machine was knocked over; the rug was 'puckered'; and the cover on the sofa 'was all messed up with blood.' There were two knives on the floor.

The error assigned is the admission in evidence of the testimony of Elizabeth Pugh in asking the victim what he wanted and his reply, 'Call the police. My wife stabbed me.' This was admitted by the judge as part of the res gestae.

The general rule is that given in Rocco v. Boston-Leader, Inc. 340 Mass. 195, 196--197, 163 N.E.2d 157, 158--159. 'With respect to spontaneous utterances the guilding principles have been stated--and in our view correctly--by Prof. Wigmore: 'The utterance must have been before there has been time to contrive and misrepresent * * *. It is to be observed that the statements need not be structly contemporaneous with the exciting cause; they may be subsequent to it, provided there has not been time for the exciting influence to lose its sway and to be dissipated. * * * (T)here can be no definite and fixed limit of time. Each case must depend upon its own circumstances.' Wigmore on Evidence (3d Ed.) § 1750. * * * The trial judge in determining whether an utterance meets the tests of admissibility ought to be given broad discretion. * * * (A) nd only in clear cases * * * of an improper exercise of discretion should his ruling be revised.' See Correira v. Boston Motor Tours, Inc., 270 Mass. 88, 91, 169 N.E. 775.

The defendant does not question these principles. She...