Peace v. Com.
| Decision Date | 01 December 1972 |
| Citation | 489 S.W.2d 519 |
| Parties | Damon PEACE, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
C. B. Upton, Williamsburg, for appellant.
Ed W. Hancock, Atty. Gen., James M. Ringo, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee.
Appellant Damon Peace, age 31 years, was convicted of murdering his wife, Mary Peace, age 20 years, his son Damon Clark Peace and his daughter Zola Peace, ages 4 years and 3 years respectively. (KRS 435.010.) Damon and Mary had been married about five years and had two other children, one 18 months old and the other 3 months old. Peace was sentenced to life imprisonment. A motion for a new trial was made and overruled. He appeals. We affirm.
Damon's principal argument for reversal is that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction, wherefore it is necessary to relate in detail the evidence which was adduced by the Commonwealth.
On the afternoon of April 19, 1969, Damon, Mary and their four children were at Mary's four-room, frame house located in a rural area of Whitley County. Clifton Sawyers, an acquaintance of both Damon and Mary, drove by and was asked by Mary to take her family to the residence of Damon's mother some miles away. Enroute Damon remarked that if he ever caught Mary with another man he would kill her but wouldn't bother the man, and that Mary should 'sell it instead of giving it away.' Mary and Damon had been experiencing marital difficulties and Mary had been sharing her time and affection with Sawyers.
Sawyers left Damon at his mother's house, then, after making several stops for groceries, supplies and other purposes, he drove Mary and the children back to their home arriving their about 6:00 P.M. He departed but returned about 8:00 PM and parked his car behind the house where it was not visible from the road. Mary got into the car with Sawyers, where they remained until near midnight. The four children were inside the house which had no electric power--it was lighted by a kerosene lamp on the mantle. There were open fireplaces in the rooms but evidence did not indicate the burning of a fire or the lamp during the night in question. From the car Mary observed a light come on in the house and ran in with Sawyers following. Twice he heard her holler When Sawyers reached the door the house was ablaze. Mary met him with the two youngest children in her arms and said 'Go get the other two.' He tried but 'the fire was too big.' Mary then dashed by him into the house, after leaving the two rescued babies between the house and the car. Sawyers heard her scream but never saw her again. He was asked and answered:
'Q135 Was there any extra kerosene in the house?
A I don't know.
Q136 At least when you looked the house went up in fire all at one time.
A It got in all the rooms.'
Sawyers picked up the two babies and headed up the road behind the house. Soon he heard a car horn blowing and saw a car start down the hollow. He described it as a 4-cylinder Pontiac Tempest belonging to George Reeves. (The next day Damon Peace was seen at the burden Peace house and elsewhere driving the Pontiac Tempest automobile owned by George Reeves.) Sawyers was asked if he knew whose automobile horn was blowing, to which he replied 'I guess it was mine.' He made his way through the woods to the George Gibbs house about one-half mile away. Several members of the Gibbs family (including Mrs. Hubert Elliott) were there when he arrived with the two babies.
Near midnight Mrs. Elliott heard the scream of a woman, a loud 'bang', and then the sound of an automoblle horn which continued unusually long. She immediately awakened Mr. Elliott and both observed the burning Peace home. They aroused their neighbors and went to the Gibbs house. The rescue squad was called and arrived later.
George Gibbs corroborated the facts related by the Elliotts. Gibbs, a state trooper, a member of the rescue squad and others went to the Peace house after 2:00 AM and found it completely destroyed by the fire. In the ruins they saw the burned, unidentifiable skeletons of an adult human and two small children. The adult '* * * was lying against the bed springs', one of the children '* * * was lying up like it had been lying on one end of the bed, and the other one was down in another end, like it had been in a chair * * * there was a set of small springs under its body.' They observed Sawyers' burned automobile in the rear of the house.
One witness testified that about a week before Mary died, Damon, while in the witness' home, struck Mary in the face with his fist. Damon and Mary left together and when Mary returned
At the conclusion of the proof offered by the Commonwealth a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal was made and overruled. Damon denied any guilt and introduced evidence to establish an alibi, that at the time of the fire he was at his mother's home. He also attempted to destroy the probative value as evidence of Mary's statement , insisting that when Mary was mad at their son * * * she would call him Damon Clarkie.' Offsetting this claim was the testimony of Mary's mother who stated that the child was never called Damon but was always referred to as 'Clarkie'.
On this appeal Damon's counsel argues that there is no evidence, direct or circumstantial, showing that a crime was committed in connection with the death of Mary and the two children. Also he claims that Specifically, he contends that 'there is no evidence of probative value that establishes the corpus delicti.' He says that 'The test * * * requires the corpus delicti to be 'proven beyond a reasonable doubt" and that '* * * if the corpus delicti is attempted to be established by circumstantial evidence (as in the instant case), it must be so established positively to exclude all uncertainty or doubt about it.' Roberson's New Kentucky Criminal Law and Procedure, Secs. 1779--1782.
There was testimony of Damon's hostility toward Mary, of his brutality to her, of his threat to kill her if she was found with another man, of the same automobile which Damon was driving the following day being seen leaving the burning house, and of Mary's exclamations 'No, Damon, don't.' Mary asked Sawyers to rescue the other two babies and when he was unable to do so Mary reentered the blazing house.
Proof of corpus delicti in murder has two elements--(1) death as a result and (2)...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Caine v. Com.
...Ky., 307 S.W.2d 910 (1957), were not produced. The corpus delicti may be established by circumstantial evidence. Peace v. Commonthwealth, Ky., 489 S.W.2d 519 (1972); Dolan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 468 S.W.2d 277 (1971); Lacey v. Commonwealth, 251 Ky. 419, 65 S.W.2d 61 (1933). 'While it is cust......
-
Hendley v. Com.
...the quality of the evidence to establish the body of the crime. Perry v. Commonwealth, Ky., 514 S.W.2d 202 (1974); Peace v. Commonwealth, Ky., 489 S.W.2d 519 (1973). The corpus delicti was established beyond cavil. We are of the opinion, even excluding the appellant's testimony and his conf......
-
Simpson v. Com., 86-SC-623-MR
...jury is allowed reasonable latitude in which to infer intent from the facts and circumstances surrounding the crime. Peace v. Commonwealth, Ky., 489 S.W.2d 519 (1972). The evidence was more than sufficient to justify instructing the jury on manslaughter in the first degree. Appellant next c......
-
Robinson v. Commonwealth
...from the facts and circumstances surrounding the crime," Simpson v. Commonwealth, 759 S.W.2d 224, 226 (Ky. 1988) (citing Peace v. Commonwealth, 489 S.W.2d 519 (Ky. 1972)), he contends that there was no evidence that he intended that John Jamison die. We disagree. First, the Commonwealth pre......