Jackson v. Commonwealth
| Citation | 265 Ky. 295,96 S.W.2d 1014 |
| Parties | JACKSON v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Decision Date | 29 September 1936 |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Kentucky |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Laurel County.
Helen Jackson was convicted of infanticide, and she appeals.
Affirmed.
G. C Clay, of London, for appellant.
B. M Vincent, Atty. Gen., and W. Owen Keller, Asst. Atty. Gen for the Commonwealth.
On a separate trial under an indictment charging her, Parthenia Crittenden, and Bessie Crittenden with the crime of infanticide, Helen Jackson was convicted, and her punishment fixed at life in the state reformatory.
On this appeal therefrom, she is insisting she was entitled to a directed verdict, the verdict is against the evidence and contrary to law, and the court erred in its instructions to the jury.
The basis of her argument that she was entitled to a directed verdict is the evidence is insufficient to prove the corpus delicti.
It is true that, Page 563, section 425, Roberson's New Kentucky Criminal Law and Procedure (2d Ed.); State v. Williams, 52 N.C. 446, 78 Am.Dec. 248, and note on page 257; 29 C.J. § 5, p. 1050.
Her argument that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict and that the latter is contrary to law is predicated on the same premise. A disposition of these questions calls for a review of the evidence.
About the 6th day of March, 1936, Archie Brock, Costello Brock, and Fred Jeffries were at a millpond in London, Ky. Costello Brock and Jeffries were fishing, when they noticed blood and some clothes on top of the water. The three boys with a limb dragged the clothes into the bank, when they discovered "a little colored baby." They immediately went and got a man to come and look at it. The finding of the baby was reported to the sheriff of the county. He, with the coroner and a deputy, went to the pond and took charge of it. "It had a piece of cloth tied around its neck"; "it (the cloth) was kind of grayish looking"; "it had black and white on it." The coroner removed the baby from the water and later carried it to his office, when an investigation was commenced to ascertain and identify the mother of the child. Immediately, Helen Jackson, Parthenia Crittenden, and Bessie Crittenden were taken into custody by the officers, and Dr. O. D. Brock and Dr. J. W. Crook were called to make an autopsy to determine the cause of the child's death. Helen Jackson, Parthenia Crittenden, and Bessie Crittenden admitted the child had been born to Helen Jackson. At the time the coroner took possession of it, "it had a couple of cords tied around its neck." Helen Jackson admitted in the presence of the coroner and others that the piece of cloth was from her dress and that the child was born to her on Monday night before it was found on March 6th; that Parthenia Crittenden assisted her in its delivery; that she took it out of the room, and later came in and asked where she might find a piece of cord, when she (Helen Jackson) stated to her: "In my hat box."
Dr. Brock and Dr. Crook made an examination of the child. They removed its lungs and placed them in water. They floated on top of the water. At the time they examined the child the cord or cloth was wrapped around its neck "tightly, four or five times, and tied," sufficient to shut off the child's breath and produce death. Between the cords there was "a bulge of the skin and tissues." There was no water in the lungs, which indicated it was not drowned. The swelling of the tissues of the neck where the cord or cloth was tied indicated there was life in the tissues at the time, and after, it was tied. The physicians described the color of the child's lungs and gave it as their opinion that their color showed that the child had breathed after it was born. They agreed in the opinion that it died from strangulation produced by the cord or cloth tied around its neck.
Helen Jackson testified in her own behalf. She admitted the baby was hers. It was born to her at the home of Parthenia Crittenden, and no one was present but her and Parthenia at its birth. She claimed that it did not cry or make a noise after it was born. She did not see Parthenia for about an hour after the baby was born. Parthenia did not pick it up.
Helen Jackson was further asked and answered as follows:
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