State v. Luther
| Decision Date | 01 July 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 73,73 |
| Citation | 285 N.C. 570,206 S.E.2d 238 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. James Ellis LUTHER. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Atty. Gen. Robert Morgan and Associate Atty. C. Diederich Heidgerd, Raleigh, for the State.
Seawell, Pollock, Fullenwider, Van Camp & Robbins, P. Wayne Robbins, Southern Pines, for defendant appellant.
Defendant's appeal presents one question: Considering all the evidence favorable to the State as true, is it sufficient to establish a causal relation between McKenzie's death and the assault which defendant made upon him with the iron pipe? G.S. §§ 15--173, 15--173.1 (1973 Cum.Supp.).
A person is criminally responsible for a homicide only if his act caused or directly contributed to the death. 40 Am.Jur.2d, Homicide §§ 13, 15 (1968); State v. Horner, 248 N.C. 342, 103 S.E.2d 694 (1958). Defendant argues that his motion for nonsuit should have been allowed because (1) the State did not offer any substantial evidence from either lay or expert witnesses tending to establish the cause of McKenzie's death; and (2) defendant's witness, Moore County's Medical Examiner, an expert pathologist, testified that his autopsy revealed no relation between defendant's assault and McKenzie's death and, in his opinion, the cause of death was hardening of the arteries.
The rule with reference to the necessity for expert medical testimony to show the cause of death in prosecutions for homicide was stated by Justice Ervin in State v. Minton, 234 N.C. 716, 721--722, 68 S.E.2d 844, 848 (1951): See State v. Howard, 274 N.C. 186, 162 S.E.2d 495 (1968); State v. Knight, 247 N.C. 754, 102 S.E.2d 259 (1958).
The State's evidence in this case is sufficient to support the following findings: Prior to his attack of influenza McKenzie had worked every day as a printer at the Moore County News. On 17 February 1973 he was at home, weak but recovering. Defendant came to his home but was not admitted. An argument ensued and McKenzie ordered defendant to leave. Defendant told him not to come out into the yard or he would kill him. Notwithstanding the threat, McKenzie walked off the porch and hit defendant on the arm with his wife's rubber boot. Whereupon defendant hit him with an iron pipe. He The blows felled McKenzie to the ground. His wife, who saw it all, went to him instantly. He was not breathing. A neighbor who heard her screams came immediately, but McKenzie 'was already gone.'
In our view, from the foregoing facts, any person of average intelligence would know from his own experience or knowledge that the assault which defendant made upon McKenzie caused or directly contributed to his death. McKenzie was very much alive before defendant felled him with blows from the iron pipe--blows so forceful that they not only struck him to the ground but also caused his eyes to bulge out of place in their sockets. Seconds thereafter McKenzie was not breathing. He had gone.
The fact that the autopsy revealed hardening of the arteries of the heart and no traumatic injury sufficient to cause death does not exonerate defendant. In his final autopsy report defendant's witness, Dr. Steffee, stated that 'the increased cardiac demand occasioned by an altercation might have precipitated death.' The law declares 'that one who inflicts an injury on another and thereby accelerates his death shall be held criminally responsible therefor.' 40 Am.Jur.2d Homicide § 16 (1968). See also, 4 Strong, N.C.Index 2d, Homicide § 1 (1968).
Thus, if McKenzie's death came about as a result of the conjunction of his heart disease with either the violence or the excitement and shock...
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