People v. Marshall, 70

• Citation: 366 Mich. 498,115 N.W.2d 309
• Decision Date: 18 May 1962
• Docket Number: No. 70,70
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Joann MARSHALL, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of Michigan

Page 309

115 N.W.2d 309

366 Mich. 498

The PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Joann MARSHALL, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 70.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

May 18, 1962.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Eugene Krasicky, Sol. Gen., Lansing, Samuel J. Torina and Angelo Pentolino, Asst. Pros. Attys., Detroit, for plaintiff and appellee.

Stuart D. Hubbell, Detroit, for defendant and appellant.

Before the Entire Bench, except ADAMS. J.

KELLY, Justice.

Defendant was tried on an information charging her with first degree murder for the death of one John M. Reid.

At the conclusion of proof, a motion on behalf of defendant to quash the first and second degree murder counts and to submit to the jury only the charge of manslaughter was denied.

The jury found defendant guilty of manslaughter. She was sentenced to not less than 3 years nor more than 15 years in the Detroit House of Correction.

Defendant and her associate, both prostitutes, accosted deceased and accompanied him in his car to a parking lot where he paid them $20 and all 3 participated in acts of sexual depravity for a period of approximately 1 hour. Defendant and her associate requested deceased to drive them back to where he had picked them up. He insisted that they remain with him in the car and in their endeavor to get out a struggle ensued.

When deceased started chocking defendant she stabbed him on the hands and arms and once in the thigh with a penknife.

Defendant and her associate finally got away from deceased and he then drove the car from the lot. He was found by police with his car up over the curb, the motor running and the wheels spinning, and his body leaning back from the steering wheel.

Dr. Edward S. Zawadzki, called as a witness for the people, testified as follows:

'The body having been appropriately identified was taken to the autopsy room, where it was first inspected and, on inspection, found a white male, 6 feet 2 inches in height, 275 pounds in weight, and of an apparent age of 43. The hair was brown; eyes were gray. The skin over the left wrist, right thigh and right forearm presented what appeared to be stab wounds. The one on the right thigh was located on the inner aspect; it measured 3 and 1/4 inches in length and probed to a depth of approximately an inch. Subsequent examination, toward the termination of the autopsy, showed that a branch of the saphenous vein--large vein--had been severed. This measured .4 of a centimeter or, roughly, between 1/8 and 1/4 inch in diameter. The other cuts described were very superfical and did not sever any vessels of major size. * * *

'Summarizing, examination showed diseased kidneys, or what we technically call, polycystic Kidneys. There was generalized arterio-sclerosis, involving the coronary arteries rather severely. There was an enlarged heart or cardiac hypertrophy, rather marked, and there was a diseased liver--what we call a fatty liver. There was also pulmonary congestion and also there were the stab wounds and, particularly, and stab wound of the right thigh which severed a large vein in that thigh. * * *

'In my opinion, death followed because of stock and hemorrhage due to stab wounds of the left hand, right forearm and, particularly, in the right thigh, and this was also accompanied by diseased processes. Naturally, arteriosclerotic hypertensive heart disease and polycystic kidneys. All of these factors contributed to the death.'

Appellant, in her brief, after calling attention to the fact that the wounds defendant inflicted upon deceased were mostly about the hands and superficial in nature, stated:

'It is true that a wound was also inflicted on the leg of deceased, but this again was not of great depth or on a portion of the body which was ordinarily likely to cause serious injury. It is clear from defendant's statement that this cut on the leg must have occurred in the struggle when defendant missed the hands of the deceased and the knife accidentally went down and...