Layne v. State
| Decision Date | 18 February 1975 |
| Docket Number | 8 Div. 522 |
| Citation | 54 Ala.App. 529,310 So.2d 249 |
| Parties | Geraldine LAYNE v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
J. Knox Argo, Montgomery, for appellant.
William J., Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Eric A. Bowen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Geraldine Layne was indicted for first degree murder for killing her three-year-old daughter and was convicted on January 30, 1974, of second degree murder and sentenced to eighteen years in the penitentiary. The indictment against appellant charged the killing to be, 'by some means unknown to this Grand Jury.'
Testimony was given by neighbors showing a history of recent abuse of the deceased child, Tammy Layne. Testimony was also received from Doctor A. R. Demick, a medical doctor with the University Hospital in Birmingham in charge of the burn service. Other witnesses for the State included one brother and two sisters of the deceased child, three doctors, a nurse and an employee of the emergency room of the Huntsville Hospital.
Various neighbors testified having observed the child, Tammy Layne, in the family's home and backyard on several occasions. The baby was observed with cuts and lacerations on its head, covered with green flies, with a bad sore on its back approximately six inches around, with a sore on the top of her head, and with two blisters on its arm, one of which had broken open and skin was hanging from it. This testimony came from a number of witnesses concerning the child's condition at various times within a three-week period before the burning incident and its death.
One witness had asked the mother to take the child to the doctor because of the sores and lacerations, but she refused. A neighbor testified to hearing screams and crying in August 1973, coming from the direction of the Layne's home, but did not know if it was the Layne children. One witness asked the mother what was wrong with the baby, and the mother replied that it was crazy.
The five-year-old son of the appellant testified that the baby was burned by his mother throwing hot water on her. The seven-year-old daughter of the appellant testified also that the appellant burned the baby by pouring hot water on her. She also stated that sometimes the appellant hit Tammy with a stick, and that Tammy slept at night on the floor in the hall and never slept in bed. The nine-year-old daughter of the appellant testified that her mother came out the door of the house and poured the boiling water on Tammy saying, 'that will teacher her a lesson to get up on the kitchen table.'
The next day, the child was taken to the hospital. Defense counsel cross-examined all three children bringing out some inconsistencies in their testimony, however, all three testified that their mother, the appellant, burned Tammy with hot water.
The emergency room secretary at the Huntsville Hospital testified she saw Tammy Layne on Saturday, September 8, 1973. She described the child as dirty and with numerous bruises and the skin on her body was peeling. The child also had open cuts and the right eye was matted closed, and she was lying in a fetal position. There was a rancid odor about the child, but she was not crying. The witness testified further that the child's feet and ankles were swollen and that her stomach or abdomen was extended.
A nurse at the Hunsville Hospital emergency room testified that the appellant brought Tammy Layne to the emergency room. She stated that the child had burns over her entire extremities and there were two lacerations on her head which were old. She also stated that seven maggots were removed from the child's ear.
Doctor Allen R. Demick testified that he examined the child on September 10, 1973, at the University Hospital in Birmingham. He stated the burns covered about seventy percent of the child's body and that the child also had lacerations of the skull which were old and infected. He stated that the burns were at least several days old and that the child died on September 14, 1973. Color photographic slides of the child were introduced, and Doctor Demick used them to illustrate part of his testimony.
Doctor Peter Booher, a radiologist, who had supervised the X-Rays taken of the child testified as to some of those X-Rays showing injuries and fractures around the rib cage and skull.
Doctor V. M. Howie, a pediatrician, testified as to the appearance of the child's burns and infection and stated that seven maggots had been removed from her left ear. The burns appeared to him to be one to two days old with some gangrene present, and she had infected lacerations on the scalp with one containing maggots.
Doctor O. J. Staats testified concerning his autopsy of the child. He was subjected to lengthy cross-examination and redirect examination and was later recalled as a witness on this point.
Appellant contends the evidence will not support a second degree murder conviction as no malice could be proved since the mother threw the boiling water on the child in an attempt to discipline her.
The same argument was made to this Court in the recent case of Williams v. State, Ala.App., 307 So.2d 53. Judge Tyson covered this subject fully in his opinion in that case, which involved a step-father beating a three-year-old child with a studded belt. The appellant in that case claimed the death was caused in an attempt to discipline the child. Finding the evidence presented a jury question, this Court affirmed the conviction of murder in the second degree.
Second degree murder may be defined as the unlawful killing of a human being with malice, but without deliberation or premeditation. Evidence of a mother intentionally pouring a lethal substance such as boiling water on her helpless three-year-old child is clearly sufficient to support a finding of malice by the Jury.
In the instant case, we find sufficient evidence to sustain the Jury's verdict. Appellant was charged with first degree murder. The trial court gave the Jury a lengthy charge concerning first degree murder, second degree murder, first degree manslaughter and second degree manslaughter. The Jury later requested further information on the degrees of such offenses, and the trial judge again gave them a full explanation.
There was no motion to exclude the State's evidence and no motion for a new trial. The question of whether the evidence supported a conviction of first degree murder or that of a lesser included offense was properly put to the Jury for their determination. Williams v. State, supra; Carmichael v. State, 52 Ala.App. 25, 288 So.2d 807; Smith v. State, 154 Ala. 31, 45 So. 626.
Appellant contends there was a variance between the proof and the indictment which charged the death to be by a means unknown to the Grand Jury. This contention is based upon evidence presented to the Grand Jury by Doctor O. J. Staats which appellant says established the means of the killing to be application of some hot liquid.
Doctor Staats' testimony concerning the autopsy was extensive. After describing various injuries and their extent, he stated the primary cause of death was '. . . from a combination of pneumonia and shock lungs which were secondary to its burns.' He further testified that on being examined before the Grand Jury, he did not give a conclusionary opinion on the cause of death as he had not conferred with Doctor Demick. Doctor Staats stated that his testimony before the Grand Jury was essentially the same as given during the preliminary hearing. Trial counsel for appellant tried unsuccessfully to tie down Doctor Staats' Grand Jury testimony to a definite conclusion as to the cause of death. On cross-examination, he was asked if the fatal lung infection was an outgrowth of the burn, to which he replied:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Samuolis
...139 A.3d 629 (2016).15 Examples abound, sadly, in a cursory review of elder and child abuse cases. See, e.g., Layne v. State , 54 Ala. App. 529, 531, 310 So. 2d 249 (1975) ; People v. Mattos , Docket No. C076743, 2016 WL 158014, *1 (Cal. App. January 13, 2016), review denied, California Sup......
-
Scott v. State
...“Evidence of recent abuse to the deceased child by the defendant is admissible to show intent, motive or scienter. Layne v. State, 54 Ala.App. 529, 534, 310 So.2d 249 (1975), and cases cited; Cameron v. State, 24 Ala.App. 438, 136 So. 418 (1931).” Carroll v. State, 370 So.2d 749, 759 (Ala.C......
-
Carroll v. State
...Evidence of recent abuse to the deceased child by the defendant is admissible to show intent, motive or scienter. Layne v. State, 54 Ala.App. 529, 534, 310 So.2d 249 (1975), and cases cited; Cameron v. State, 24 Ala.App. 438, 136 So. 418 "While the details or merits of the former difficulty......
-
Phelps v. State
...murder, evidence of recent abuse to the child by the accused is admissible to show "intent, motive or scienter." Layne v. State, 54 Ala.App. 529, 534, 310 So.2d 249 (1975). Acts of hostility, cruelty and abuse by the accused toward his homicide victim may be proved by the State for the purp......