Nelson v. State, 82-646

• Decision Date: 23 May 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-646,82-646
• Citation: 450 So.2d 1223
• Parties: Michael Stanley NELSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1223

450 So.2d 1223

Michael Stanley NELSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 82-646.

District Court of Appeal of Florida Fourth District.

May 23, 1984.

As Corrected on Denial of Rehearing June 27, 1984.

Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Margaret Good, and Anthony J. Calvello, Asst. Public Defenders, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and James P. McLane, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.

DOWNEY, Judge.

Michael Stanley Nelson was convicted of the premeditated murder of his wife, Linda Nelson, by drowning on September 12, 1979, and with attempted premeditated murder of Linda Nelson by poison on August 30, 1979. From a judgment and sentence of life imprisonment and a consecutive thirty year term of imprisonment Nelson has perfected this appeal.

On September 12, 1979, Nelson's wife, Linda, drowned in the bathtub of her home in Delray Beach. Nelson claimed that, when he returned home on the afternoon of September 12th, he found his wife face down in a bathtub of water. He tried to resuscitate her without success and then called the paramedics. Although Nelson said he found an empty valium bottle near her body, an autopsy showed only therapeutic quantities of valium present in the deceased's body, and the cause of death was determined to be drowning.

Nelson was eventually charged with premeditated murder in the drowning and in a second count with attempted murder by poison. The evidence adduced was sufficient for the jury to find that Linda had been drowned in the bathtub. She had bruises and other marks on her head and face consistent with being caused by human hands and unusually long strings of her hair were found in the clear bathtub water by one of the witnesses. The bathroom was in a state of disarray; while the floor was dry, there were several half-wet bathmats behind the bathroom door. Nelson admitted to an investigating officer that he could have gotten physical with Linda that day trying to get her to straighten up and snap out of her alleged illness. He stated he was the equivalent to a Brown Belt in Karate; he was from a long line of warriors; and he was comfortable with killings. These and other statements militated against the accidental drowning theory. Nelson was described as being very calm, cool, and collected on the evening of Linda's death. On that very evening he called Linda's boss and made arrangements to come into the office the next day to discuss Linda's death benefits. Nelson was aware that he was the beneficiary of a large life insurance policy on Linda's life. He also evidenced great concern that Linda's first husband might participate in her estate.

With reference to the count involving the attempted murder by poisoning, Dr. Weems testified he attended Linda in the hospital on August 30, 1979. Among other things, she was hyperventilating, drooling, and complaining of muscle pain. Some of her symptoms were consistent with poisoning. The juxtaposition of drooling and hyperventilating was unusual. Dr. Ralph Tanz, a pharmocologist, testified that the symptoms exhibited by Linda on August 30, 1979, were consistent with aconitine poison; he knew of no other chemical that would produce such symptoms. In further support of this charge, it was shown that Nelson purchased quantities of a chemical known as aconitine, which is a poisonous chemical, very toxic to the heart. Its ostensible use, according to Nelson, was for a paint he was experimenting with to prevent barnacles on boat bottoms. There was evidence that made this story suspect.

On the attempted murder count, the State introduced similar fact evidence regarding Nelson's conduct with his first wife, Sherrie Braswell. There was a striking similarity between the illnesses and symptoms suffered by the two women when living with Nelson. The medical evidence showed, for example, that the hospital admissions of the two women reflected both evidencing the same symptoms, nervousness heart flutter, numbness, tingling and drooling, all of which were shown to be consistent with aconitine poisoning. It was shown that Nelson purchased a large life insurance policy on his and Sherrie's lives before they were married. Prior to the...