Nelson v. State
| Decision Date | 27 June 1956 |
| Citation | 11 Terry 96,123 A.2d 859,50 Del. 96 |
| Parties | , 50 Del. 96 Carl NELSON, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. The STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Delaware |
H. James Conaway, Jr., of Morris, James, Hitchens & Williams, Wilmington, for appellant.
Albert J. Stiftel, Deputy Atty. Gen., for the State.
The principal question in this case concerns the degree or quantum of proof required to establish the corpus delicti apart from the defendant's confession.
The facts are these:
Anne Rose Parsons, a married woman, lived with her husband and children at Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In 1952 she met the defendant, and an illicit attachment resulted. At the time with which we are concerned she was employed at the Kennard-Pyle department store in Wilmington. She was a very good, reliable worker.
On April 12, 1954, she left the store about 3:18 p. m. for her afternoon rest period. She appeared to be in good health. She went to the Hotel Olivere (about a block away), where the defendant on April 7th had taken a room in the name of Mr. and Mrs. C. Nelson. She met the defendant. Exactly what happened thereafter is known directly only through statements made later by Nelson, but it is certain that Mrs. Parsons met her death sometime during the afternoon.
Nelson appears to have left the room about four o'clock. He walked around, visited a bar, and returned about midnight. He spent the night in the room with the body.
The next day he left the hotel about nine o'clock. Before leaving he twice told the maid that she need not do anything to his room. He spent the day visiting various bars.
About 7:30 p. m. Police Headquarters received a telephone call from an unknown man who stated that there was a dead body in Room 26 of the Hotel Olivere. The call was made by Nelson. A patrolman was sent to the room. He found the unclothed body of Mrs. Parsons upon the bed. He observed what seemed to be several blotches around her neck. He notified the Detective Division, and several officers came to the room. Lieutenant Miller observed several bruise marks on the throat. The room showed no sign of a struggle.
The medical evidence for the State was based upon an examination and autopsy performed by Dr. Casella, the pathologist at one of the Wilmington hospitals, about 9:00 p. m. on April 13th. He found two bruise marks on the side of the neck. The muscles on the side of the neck were hemorrhagic in appearance. He concluded that external pressure had been applied to the skin of the neck. He fixed the time of death about thirty hours before his examination. The coroner's physician was of the same opinion. In Dr. Casella's opinion, his findings were consistent with death by strangulation. From his findings alone, he could not say definitely that death resulted from this or any other specified cause. His findings were also consistent with death from acute alcoholism, inhalation of poisonous gases, epilepsy, and possibly other causes. Later examination of a blood sample for alcohol eliminated alcoholism as a cause. It also was shown that there was no illuminating gas furnished to the room.
The State also introduced evidence of statements made by the defendant to police officers and others, the purport of which was that he had killed Mrs. Parsons, by choking or strangling her. On the evening of April 13th Nelson said to the barmaid at the Hotel Olivere: 'I did something and you are going to hear it quite a bit in the next few days.' During the same evening Nelson was in a nearby cafe. Some other customers were talking about the death of a woman at the Olivere. Nelson said to the proprietor: 'Did you hear about the people talking about the woman getting shot and stabbed * * *?' The proprietor said 'yes', and Nelson said:
The police were notified, and Nelson was arrested. Lieutenant Miller told him he was under arrest for murder and that he did not have to say anything. While Nelson was riding in the police car, he said: 'I told her I would do it when she least expected it.' Questioned at the police station he made a full statement of his relations with the deceased woman. The manner of her death he described as follows:
On April 14 Nelson was brought before the Municipal Court for commitment. The court refused to proceed unless the defendant had the advice of counsel, and asked Joseph A. L. Errigo, Esquire, a member of the bar, to advise him. Mr. Errigo cautioned Nelson to say nothing. Notwithstanding this advice Nelson subsequently made a second statement to the police, to the effect that he had expected to marry Mrs. Parsons but had learned from her on the afternoon of April 12th that she was not getting a divorce, although he had been giving her money to put aside for this purpose.
Nelson was indicted and tried for first degree murder, and convicted of manslaughter.
During the trial and after verdict, Nelson's counsel raised, in various ways, the question of law that he now brings here for review. He contends that under the law the corpus delicti must not only be proved beyond a reasonable doubt upon all the evidence in the case; it must be so proved, he says, by evidence apart from the confession. The trial court rejected this contention and charged the jury as follows:
'In determining whether or not the corpus delicti, an essential element of the State's case, has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, you may consider the confessions of the defendant as admitted in evidence together with all of the other facts that have been proved or established, but in deciding this question, we must say to you that the confessions, standing alone, in the absence of other corroborating testimony, are not sufficient evidence upon which to sustain a conviction in this case.'
Upon a motion after verdict for a judgment of acquittal, the trial court carefully examined the law upon the matter and adhered to the view expressed in the charge. The correctness of that view we must now determine; but before discussing it we must deal with an objection to the medical testimony.
It is said that all of Dr. Casella's testimony is founded upon a 'history' furnished him by other persons and hence his finding that the cause of death was consistent with strangulation is based on hearsay and is inadmissible. This contention is earnestly pressed. We have carefully examined the record. Relying not only upon his examination and autopsy, but also upon information received from other persons, Dr. Casella reported the cause of death as 'anoxia [lack of oxygen], due to strangulation'. But his limited finding that the cause of death was consistent with strangulation did not rest upon any history supplied by others. Interrogated by the court...
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