Johnson v. State

• Decision Date: 12 April 1957
• Docket Number: No. 29454,29454
• Citation: 236 Ind. 509,141 N.E.2d 444
• Parties: Robert Langsford JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 444

141 N.E.2d 444

236 Ind. 509

Robert Langsford JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 29454.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

April 12, 1957.

Robert Lee Brokenburr, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Edwin K. Steers, Atty. Gen., Owen S. Boling, Merl M. Wall, Deputies Atty. Gen., for appellee.

BOBBITT, Judge.

Appellant was indicted on two counts for the crime of murder in the first degree under Acts 1941, ch. 148, § 1, p. 447, being § 10-3401, Burns' 1956 Replacement; tried by jury and found guilty 'as charged in Count One of the indictment'; and sentenced to the Indiana State Prison for life.

Count One of the indictment charged that appellant, on or about February 16, 1955, 'unlawfully, feloniously, purposely and with premeditated malice, kill and murder William Covington, a human being, by then and there unlawfully, feloniously, purposely and with premeditated malice shooting at and against the body of the said William Covington with a revolver loaded with metal bullets, then and there held in the hand of the said Robert Langsford Johnson and did then and there and thereby inflict a mortal wound in and upon the body of the said William Covington, of which mortal wound the said William Covington then and there and thereby died.'

The overruling of appellant's motion for a new trial is the sole error assigned.

Appellant presents here the second ground or specification for a new trial--that the verdict of the jury is not sustained by sufficient evidence, and more particularly asserts: (1) that there is not sufficient evidence to establish the venue in Marion County, Indiana; and (2) that there is not sufficient evidence to show beyond a reasonable doubt that decedent was killed by 'shooting' as charged in Count One of the indictment.

First: Venue must be proven to sustain a conviction; Strickland v. State, 1909, 171 Ind. 642, 645, 87 N.E. 12; however, no more direct or convincing evidence is required to establish it than is required to prove any other essential fact in the case. State v. Jackson, 1918, 187 Ind. 694, 699, 121 N.E. 114.

There is direct evidence to show that the deceased lived and worked in Indianapolis, Indiana, that he was seen in the vicinity of 614 North California Street on the night of February 15, 1955, and that his dead body was found in the alley at the rear of 614 North California Street, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, at about 7 o'clock on the morning of February 16, 1955. We believe this is sufficient evidence from which the jury might properly have inferred that the alleged crime was committed in Marion County, Indiana.

See Beavers v. State, 1877, 58 Ind. 530, 536.

Second: Since appellant was found guilty 'as charged in Count One of the indictment,' the burden was upon the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every material allegation therein contained. Abraham v. State, 1950, 228 Ind. 179, 184, 91 N.E.2d 358.

Was there evidence sufficient to show that the deceased died as the result of gunshot wounds? An examination of the evidence in the record pertaining to the cause of death discloses that Dr. James W. Anderson, a deputy coroner of Marion County, Indiana, and a witness for the State, testified as follows:

'Q. All right, now, what did you do, doctor, upon finding this body in the manner which you testified? A. He was covered up with a blanket. I removed the blanket and I did a preliminary examination to attempt to find out the cause of death.

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'Q. Now, doctor, will you describe what if any markings you found upon the body that you found there? A. There were multiple bruises and multiple lacerations of the scalp and head, and skull fractures; multiple fractures.

'Q. Any other marks in addition to the ones you testified about. A. No.

'Q. And what did you do then upon making this examination? A. After making the preliminary examination, I sent the body to the morgue for an autopsy.

'Q. Were you, from your examination, able to determine the cause of death? A. Not exactly, no.'

Dr. Lawrence A. Lewis, a pathologist who performed an autopsy on the body of the deceased, testified on behalf of the State, on direct examination, as follows:

'Q. Now, Doctor Lewis, if you performed an autopsy on the man who is pictured in State's Exhibit Numbers Six and Seven, will you tell the court and jury in your own words, just what you did in that connection? A. The autopsy was performed on the body of a man approximately fifty-five years of age, about five feet, nine inches tall, and weighing approximately one hundred eighty-eight pounds. The body bore multiple evidences of external violence, most of which----

'A. I interpolate the term 'external violence' is purely a medical, surgical designation in character of the trauma which was exhibited by the body. No intention to infer how it happened, or anything of that sort. The entire vertex of the skull, which is the top of the skull, was bathed in blood, and disclosed on examination, nine separate and distinct lacerated wounds, varying in length and in conformation, but all of them comprehending all of the soft tissues of the scalp; and extending down to the bone of the skull, itself. The edges of these wounds were all peculiarly marked--in that they did exhibit minute serrations resembling tiny saw teeth, instead of being irregularly lacerated, and in three distinct areas of the scalp this marking was continued back from the edges of the wound on to and into the superficial tissues of the scalp, itself, producing regularly spaced abrasions of the scalp. The entire cranium vault above what we call the base line had been reduced to a mass of comminuted bones, bones of variable shape and size; and in several areas these bones had been depressed and driven into the substance of the brain, itself. The resulting lacerations of the membranes which cover the brain had produced massive hemorrhages, which had coalesced, come together, as it were, and enveloped both hemispheres of cerebrum, both sides of the upper brain. In addition to these wounds there was a disclosed--three circular wounds of the head and face, the characteristics of which proclaim them...