Jackson v. State, 64154

• Decision Date: 22 June 1983
• Docket Number: No. 64154,64154
• Citation: 652 S.W.2d 415
• Parties: Illeane JACKSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 415

652 S.W.2d 415

Illeane JACKSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 64154.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas En Banc.

June 22, 1983.

George H. Tyson, Jr., Houston, for appellant.

Bill Warren, Dist. Atty., Center, Robert Huttash, State's Atty. and Alfred Walker, Asst. State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

Before the court en banc.

OPINION

MILLER, Judge.

An indictment was returned against appellant charging her with knowingly and intentionally causing the death of her daughter, LaTonya Jackson, by striking the child on the head with her elbows. A motion for change of venue was granted and the case was moved from Panola County to Shelby County. The jury returned a guilty verdict and assessed punishment at fifteen years.

The facts are as follow. On October 21, 1977, at 2:00 p.m., appellant brought LaTonya Jackson, her 8-month old daughter, into the emergency room of Panola General Hospital: LaTonya was pronounced dead on arrival. The child had suffered a fatal subdural hemorrhage on the right side of her brain. Shortly thereafter, appellant's three other children, including LaTonya's twin sister, were removed from appellant's custody by the Department of Human Resources. On November 1, 1977, appellant gave to a Department of Human Resources investigator, a written statement claiming that she had accidently struck the deceased child on the head with her elbows on two occasions. An indictment was returned against appellant in January of 1978 and she was arrested two months later.

The State based its case solely upon appellant's written statement ¹ and the testimony of Dr. Franklin Rude, a clinical pathologist, who performed an autopsy on the deceased.

The State called Dr. Franklin Rude to testify in its case in chief. Rude was a clinical pathologist, who had performed over five hundred autopsies, and was employed on a referral basis with the Panola County Sheriff's office.

Rude performed an autopsy on LaTonya Jackson on October 22, 1977. An x-ray examination of the head disclosed a spreading in the suture lines on the child's skull. Rude testified that such spreading was unusual in an infant and was probably caused by increased pressure in the skull. No skull fractures were apparent. Other x-rays indicated that the child had healing fractures in both of her legs. When questioned about these fractures, Rude noted the need for a radiologist for proper interpretation. He could not ascertain the age of the fractures in the child's legs and reiterated the need for a radiologist.

Rude performed an external examination of the child. He found an eighteen pound girl, consistent in weight with an eight month old child. She was cleanly dressed, her diaper was clean, and she had been freshly powdered. Multiple bruises were found on the child's forehead and two bruises were found on the top of the child's head. Rude testified that at the time the examination took place, he commented that the marks would have to be interpreted on the basis on whether the baby was pulling up and trying to learn how to walk, in which case, "not a whole lot could be made of these findings". On further examination, he found two minor healing injuries: a crusted lesion on the bottom of the right nostril and a splitting of the upper lip.

After the external examination, Rude performed an internal examination. He examined the brain on the right side and on the outer surface and found a large, very soft, purple blood clot. On the left side of the brain, he found a dark brown stain over the entire side. This staining indicated a blood loss on that side of the brain at some time. He testified that this was essentially the pertinent information as far as the examination of the brain revealed.

When he was asked about the ultimate cause of the child's death, he stated that the child died due to an accumulation of blood inside the skull resulting in increased pressure. The problem had been compounded by evidence of a loss of oxygen to the area in the past. Between the two losses of blood supply, death resulted.

When questioned about the source of the bleeding found on the right side of the skull, Rude testified that he was unable to identify the source but he believed that it would take a blow of some force to initiate this type of bleeding. With regard to the staining on the left side of the brain, Rude testified that in the past there had been a sizeable bleeding into the skull, which was not fatal, and that the injury had healed.

Rude was questioned concerning the age of the injuries. The lesion on the right nostril was several days older than the bruises on the scalp. He testified that the split on the lip was at least a week or more old. His examination of a section of the blood clot found on the right side of the skull disclosed that part of that clot was just a few hours old, and other parts of the clot had been in contact with the brain surface for four days or more indicating that the actual blood accumulation in the right side of the skull could have been caused by either an older injury accumulating in effect over 4 or 5 days or both an old and a recent (few hours) injury. He stated that the bleeding on the left side of the skull had probably occurred several weeks prior to death.

When asked whether it would require a blow of some force to produce the bruises found on the forehead, Rude testified that the bruises were fairly typical of those found on children just learning to walk, and on that basis, the interpretation of the bruises would be dependent on the child's history. When asked about the two bruises found on the top of the head, Rude stated that they would be more difficult to explain on the basis of a child learning to walk. He indicated that he would not expect to see such a bruise on a child's skull occasioned by pulling up and falling down.

On re-direct, Rude again testified that the bruises would most easily be explained on a normal activity basis for a young child. Rude further indicated that it was unlikely that all the injuries suffered by the child were sustained in attempting to crawl or walk. He then stated that if it were postulated that a blow from an elbow caused the bleeding in the skull, it would be much more likely that the child was struck and then fell off the bed onto the floor. In this way the bleeding within the skull, would be occasioned by the acceleration injury, (the movement of the brain within the skull). Had the child fallen some thirty inches onto the floor, it would be reasonable to expect bleeding inside the skull. He reiterated that several parts of the brain had suffered loss of oxygen. When asked what caused the brain to be deprived of oxygen, Rude stated "bleeding within the sub-dural space and the blood clot, and that is not ruling out contribution from the previous injury as well".

On cross examination, Rude stated that the deceased was at the age where most infants are learning to walk. He indicated that all of the visible injuries found on the deceased's head could have been explained by the child pulling up and learning to walk, with the resulted falling, and also raising up under and around articles of furniture. He reiterated that he could not identify the place where the bleeding started on the right side of the brain and could not testify as to the nature of the causative force that resulted in the injuries suffered by the deceased. Rude further testified that his examination...