People v. Hanson

• Decision Date: 15 February 1935
• Docket Number: No. 22605.,22605.
• Citation: 359 Ill. 266,194 N.E. 520
• Parties: PEOPLE v. HANSON.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

359 Ill. 266

194 N.E. 520

PEOPLE

v.HANSON.

No. 22605.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 15, 1935.

Error to Circuit Court, Winnebago County; Arthur E. Fisher, Judge.

May Hanson was convicted of murder, and she brings error.

Judgment affirmed.J. E. Goembel and Frank H. Hall, both of Rockford, for plaintiff in error.

Otto Kerner, Atty. Gen., Robert E. Nash, State's Atty., of Rockford, J. J. Neiger, of Springfield, and A. B. Louison and Max A. Weston, both of Rockford, for the People.

JONES, Chief Justice.

May Hanson was indicted in the circuit court of Winnebago county for the murder of her former husband, Earl C. Hanson. Upon a jury trial she was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for fourteen years. She attempted to bring the cause to this court by appeal. Upon a motion by the people to dismiss the appeal and a counter motion by her, she was allowed to attach assignments of error to the record, and the cause is before us as upon writ of error. She will be hereinafter referred to as defendant.

Defendant procured a divorce from her husband December 22, 1932. After that date defendant and their daughter, June, aged twelve years, lived about six miles north of the city of Rockford. A proper understanding of the case requires quite a detailed recitalof facts and circumstances. The house is on the north side of an east and west road about 40 rods east of a paved highway known as the Main street road. Near the west line of the driveway is a line of shrubbery and small trees extending from the gate back to a point opposite the garage. The approximate height of the shrubbery is 5 feet, the same varying from 3 1/2 feet to 7 feet. There is a two-wire fence along the east side of the drive from the road fence to a point opposite the front of the house. For several months prior to his death the deceased had been in the habit of having the custody of June on alternate Saturday afternoons and Sundays. She was with him on Sunday, August 13, and they returned about 9 o'clock that night in his 1929 Ford coupé. She testified that they went to church in the morning, had dinner, and went to two picture shows, one of which was in the evening. On the way to her home they stopped at a filling station, and Hanson had the tank of his car filled. He had planned to take his daughter to Chicago the next morning for a stay of two days. Her mother had made one new dress for her and purchased another, both of which were placed in a night pack to be taken on the trip. Hanson drove his car to the front door of the house and let his daughter out without stopping the motor. After bidding him goodnight, June went into the house. He was smoking a cigar the last time she saw him. In the house June called ‘Mom’ twice, but received no answer. She thought her mother might be upstairs and started up the stairway. A light through the front window of the sun parlor attracted her attention. She saw a burst of flame, and at first thought her father had turned on the lights of his car quickly. Then she saw the car in flames on the driveway. She did not see or hear her mother, and ran out of the house the same way she came in. She did not stop to close the front door and thought it slammed. The car was then standing at the end of the lane, by the gate and the road. Her father was lying on the west side of the driveway. His clothes were on fire, his hair sizzling, and he was moaning. She ran to a neighbor's across the North Main street road and told them to call the ambulance. The car was all afire before she started to get help. Her father was in good health when they came home and there was nothing wrong with the car. She testified that the car windows were open, and that, if she remembered rightly, the windshield was open about four or five inches. When she returned, her mother was standing at the corner, east of the sun parlor window. Bruce Thompson was there. Two brothers whose last name is Dion soon arrived. Deceased was still lying on the west side of the driveway. Some one put a blanket or canvas over him. Several more people soon came. There was a burned spot in the grass a short distance north of the open gate, with parts of the burned clothing around it. A corncob pipe was found near by. Hanson was about 3 feet north, and slightly to the left, of the automobile. He was badly burned and died in the lane adjacent to the driveway. The burns involved the head, neck, left arm, left shoulder, left side of the legs and body, his hands and ankles. The skin on the neck and left side of the chest was black and charred crisp. The burns extended down into the tissues and muscles. In places the skin was gone, and on his hands it was curled up ‘like loose bark on a tree.’ The eyelids were entirely gone and the margins of the ears deeply burned. The lips and tongue were swollen and the tongue protruded. There were no burns on the inside of the left leg, the groin, buttocks, genitalia, front of the chest, or abdomen. Dr. Palmer, a practicing physician and pathologist at the Rockford Hospital for over five years, testified that the burns were sufficient to cause the death of Hanson; that he would not say they did cause it, but they were sufficient to cause his death.

The hub of the left rear wheel of decedent's car was lodged against the west gatepost and had made a dent in the post. The hub cap was found near by. The spinning of the wheel at the side of the post had worn through the grass and sod. The car was in gear and was pulled away from the gatepost and dragged back a car's length while it was still burning. The top and all inflammable material on the inside of the car were burned. The windshield glass was melted. The floor boards, battery lead straps, and cable insulation were burned. The float of the carburetor was melted apart and the ventura melted off. The door panels were burned within two inches of the bottom. The rubber mat on the steel left runningboard was burned under the left door for a space of about 5 by 13 inches. The car fenders and the splashboard under the left door were not burned. The sides of the hood were slightly scorched. The glass in the gauge on the instrument panel was cracked, and the right end of the top seam of the gas tank next the instrument panel was slightly open for a space of 4 or 5 inches. Water was put in the tank after the fire. For five days the cracked gas-gauge glass showed no leak. Thereafter it leaked a drop at a time. The distributor cap, the roller, the condenser, some of the wiring, the top of the hood, and the top hose connection to the radiator were burned. The finish on the rear deck was completely gone. The fan belt, the gas line, the switch at the foot of the steering wheel and the motor were normal, with grease still on the motor. Five keys, some of them partly melted, were found on the transmission. The ignition switch was melted. Millard F. Stockburger, deputy sheriff, testified that at the time of the fire the windshield was closed and the glass melted. An expert mechanic who examined the car after the fire corroborated his testimony.

On the night of the fire, Stockburger and Ernest Smith, a special deputy sheriff, found a porcelain bowl in the filed from 20 to 25 feet west of the west line and about 63 feet north of the south line of the premises. It was about 10 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches deep, with curved sides. Evidence was produced which tended to show that a liquid had been burned in the bowl while it was held at a slight angle, and that burning gasoline would produce the condition in which the bowl was found. There was no discoloration on the grass under the bowl and no dew on the grass. They found red berries on the bushes along the west fence and freshly crushed berries on the ground under one of the bushes. The next morning they found a penny box of domestic safety matches on the ground, east of the bush. The box was about 7 feet from the west line of the premises and about 60 feet from the front fence, almost due east of where the bowl was found. About 15 feet south of it there was another spot where the grass was burned 7 or 8 inches wide and about 18 inches long. The matchbox had a single scratch about 1 1/2 inch long on the abrasive substance on the side of the box. Three more boxes of the same brand of matches were found on the kitchen shelf in the house, and an empty matchbox of the same kind was found in the kitchen wastebasket. Defendant told Stockburger she did not know how the bowl or the box of matches came to be where they were found. She admitted that a few days previously she had purchased five boxes of the same brand of matches as the one found. She said that the bowl was one of two she owned; that she had used it to water the chickens at 6:30 o'clock on the evening of the fire and had put it in the chicken coop, a few feet inside the door. Stockburger found a pan of water inside the door of the chicken coop and another in the chicken yard.

At about 4 o'clock p. m. on the day of the fire Mrs. Hanson purchased a gallon of gasoline from a filling station about 50 rods west of the Hanson property. The attendant furnished a red can. He testified that she said she wanted to try to start her car; that she then went for a ride with a lady, taking the gasoline with her; that they returned about 6 o'clock, and Mrs. Hanson walked home, carrying the gasoline. The next day Stockburger and the state fire marshal went to defendant's premises. They found the red gasoline can in the garage, with filler and spoutcaps screwed on. The fire marshal testified that it was about two-thirds full. Stockburger testified that it was afterwards measured and found to contain a little less than a half gallon. The tires on the Chevrolet car which was in the garage were down. Stockburger tried the battery, and it was apparently dead. He measured the gasoline in the tank with a stick and found it was approximately 2 inches deep. The tank was about 32 inches long and about 11...