Gossett v. State

• Decision Date: 17 May 1948
• Docket Number: 16054.
• Citation: 48 S.E.2d 71,203 Ga. 692
• Parties: GOSSETT v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

48 S.E.2d 71

203 Ga. 692

GOSSETT v. STATE.

No. 16054.

Supreme Court of Georgia

May 17, 1948

Bertha Gossett, alias Bertha Gossett Hill, was indicted for murder in Floyd County, in the alleged killing of Leroy Hill by poisoning him. After a verdict of guilty, this court reversed the judgment of the trial court refusing a new trial, because of alleged error relating to the disqualification of a juror. Gossett v. State, 201 Ga. 809, 41 S.E.2d 308. Upon a second trial a verdict of guilty was returned with a recommendation of mercy. The defendant made a motion for a new trial on the usual general grounds, to which were later added by amendment fourteen special grounds. The motion as thus amended was overruled, and the defendant excepted.

It appeared from the evidence introduced by the State that the deceased was the husband of the defendant, and that a policy of insurance on his life was issued by State Mutual Insurance Company for $2500, dated November 28, 1945, payable to the defendant; also that a policy for $3000 payable to the defendant was issued on his life by Liberty National Life Insurance Company dated January 30, 1946. The deceased died on February 14, 1946. It appeared that, as to both of these policies, representatives of the insurance companies were first contacted by the defendant, after which agents obtained applications from the deceased on which the policies were issued. It is not clear from the evidence whether the premium on the State Mutual policy was paid at the time the application was made, or at the time the policy was delivered to the defendant. The premium on the policy issued by the Liberty National was paid at the time the application was made. An employee of the latter company testified that she received several calls from Mrs. Leroy Hill, and her chief concern seemed to be whether or not the binding receipt which she held for the policy would put it in force before the policy was issued. It also appeared that, at the instigation of the defendant, application was made by the deceased on December 6, 1945, for a $3000 policy in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company payable to the defendant as beneficiary but he did not report for medical examination and the policy was never issued.

The deceased died on the morning of February 14 1946. It appears that he was sick and confined to his room from February 11 until he died three days later. So far as shown by the record, only his wife (the defendant) and two neighbors, Mrs. Marvin Watkins and Mrs. L. E. Holloway, saw the deceased during this period. Mrs. Watkins and Mrs Holloway testified substantially as follows:

Mrs. Watkins: I was present at Mrs. Hill's home during the last illness of her husband, Leroy Hill. She came for me. I believe it was on Monday before he died on Thursday. The first day when I went he was cramping in his stomach and his legs would be kind of paralyzed and he couldn't stand to touch his legs and his arms, and vomiting. That first day he didn't vomit so much as that might and then just continually. Not anyone was present at the time I first went to his home except him and Bertha. I believe I stayed about two hours that first day, then she came for me the next day. While I was there the first day, Mrs. Bertha Hill did not try to get a doctor for him. I said something about a doctor, and she said she had him in the hospital several times. She said the doctor said they couldn't do him any good. He was just as well off home. I suggested giving him a dose of oil. She gave him some coffee, I believe, one time and then she gave him some soda water and salt water, he had asked to make him vomit. He said stuff was gathering around his heart and he had to have something to make him vomit. I was just there when he died. He died in the morning about two o'clock. Just prior to his death he'd have weak sinking spells. I believe he vomited all the time. The vomit was green all the time except one time, the last time, it seemed yellow or reddish looking. Bertha called my attention to it and said she thought it was blood. I think I saw Mrs. Hill give him one capsule one time. I wouldn't say for sure, but it seemed she got that capsule from a chest of drawers or maybe on the table. I fixed some castor oil for him and gave it to him myself. My daughter, Mrs. Holloway, was also present in the house when he died.

Mrs. Holloway: I was present at the time Leroy Hill died. I went there because Bertha came after my mother and said she thought Leroy was dying. The first time I went there was on Monday morning. When I got there he was just vomiting. The vomit was a greenish color. He was complaining of pain, just rolling in the bed and said if he could get easy for one minute. He did not say anything about going to the hospital or wanting a doctor, Bertha told us the doctors told her that he'd be just as well off at home as he would be in the hospital, that they had done all they could for him. We spent the night up there, my mother and I (Tuesday night). He was just the same that night, wasn't any better. He vomited most of the time. Mrs. Hill was present at that time. She did not make any effort while I was there on that occasion to get a doctor for him. She gave him one capsule, but I think he vomited that up, and then I think it was on Wednesday night she gave him a dose of medicine. I don't know what it was; it was a liquid medicine. He asked her what it was and she said she had forgotten, didn't know whether it was for the heart or something else, 'I forgot,' and he said it burned him so bad not to give him any more. He was complaining with stuff gathering around his heart most of the time, he'd have to have salt water and soda water and stuff like that so that he would keep on vomiting. He said that when he got sick the next day he wanted to go to Dr. McCall, I believe it was, and said he wanted him to operate on him and see what was the matter with him, but he died that night, he didn't live until the next morning. After he died I had some conversation with Mrs. Hill. We had to wait for the ambulance to get there for him. Bertha and I dressed Leroy before the undertaker got there. After we dressed him she went and got her insurance policies and brought them back in the room and was showing them to me and said it was a good thing she had the insurance, that she had spent about all the money they had for doctors' bills.

Dr. Warren B. Matthews testified that he removed certain organs from the body of Leroy Hill and took them to Dr. George T. Lewis, a toxicologist, for chemical examination; and Dr. Lewis testified as to the result of his examination, portions of the testimony of each of these witnesses being as follows:

Dr. Matthews, after qualifying as an expert, testified: I performed an autopsy on the body of Leroy Hill in Rome, Georgia, on February 15, 1946. I removed the stomach and part of the intestines and part of the liver and part of the kidneys. I found the intestines and stomach irritated and inflamed and I found what we call 'toxic changes' in the kidneys and the liver. The conditions that I found there could not have been caused by an embalming fluid having been injected into the body because these conditions that I described were conditions that had to be caused before death. I say that because of my experience in such examinations. I did not myself make any chemical tests of the contents of the stomach. The condition that I found there could have been caused by a poison of arsenical compound. My examination indicated that he died of the conditions that I described, but I could not state what was back of those conditions without further analysis. The stomach was reddened in spots and inflamed and green with bile in other spots. The mucus membrane appeared to be bile stained and to be inflamed. There was swelling of the liver and kidneys. In the form of arsenic trioxide, which is the one to which I shall refer, the lethal accepted does is three grains, or thereabouts.

After I had done my autopsy on this body I took the organs to Dr. George Lewis of Emory University and delivered them to him for a toxicological examination. His specially is that of chemistry, or particularly what we call bio-chemistry. I think the toxic changes that I saw from the organs I removed were the cause of Leroy Hill's death. This stomach was practically empty; there was only a tablespoonful or maybe two tablespoonsful of material.

I gave it to Dr. Lewis just as it was. From my analysis I couldn't tell what caused the toxic changes I described in the liver and kidneys. By 'toxic changes' I mean changes that we see. The organ looked swollen, discolored to some extent, it looks entirely different from the normal organ; sometimes we describe it as having a cooked appearance. There are many things that could have caused that. From what I had, I did not know what caused that. An arsenic compound is a standard remedy for a syphilitic condition. Neoarsphenamine and arsphenamine differ, in that neoarsphenamine is a little less toxic than arsphenamine--it causes a little less reaction and it contains a different form of arsenic. If a person was taking a shot of either neoarsphenamine or arsphenamine and became confused took the wrong one, and took arsphenamine in the normal does that he could have taken neoarsphenamine, I don't think it would kill him, but he would be awfully sick. If he took an additional shot pretty quick, there would be a limit. From what I saw, assuming that it was arsenic poisoning, I would say that it was ingested, definitely. I say that because I have never seen so much irritation of the stomach and intestines from arsenic taken any other way. It was not possible that injection into the body of embalming fluid containing arsenic would...