State v. Le Noir
| Decision Date | 05 November 1952 |
| Citation | 97 N.H. 462,92 A.2d 159 |
| Parties | STATE v. LE NOIR. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Gordon M. Tiffany, Atty. Gen., Maurice M. Blodgett, Deputy Atty. Gen., and Thomas J. Morris, County Solicitor, Portsmouth (Mr. Blodgett orally) for the State.
Robert J. Doyle, Nashua (by brief and orally) for the defendant.
At the close of the State's case, the defendant's motion for a directed verdict was denied. The defendant did not rest his case upon that motion but proceeded to introduce evidence. At the close of all the evidence, he again moved for a directed verdict. The question on both of the motions for a directed verdict is whether the whole case contains sufficient evidence for the jury. State v. Newman, 74 N.H. 10, 15, 64 A. 761.
The evidence is that the defendant and his wife spent the evening of July 21, 1951 at their camp in Derry playing cards and drinking rum. Mrs. LeNoir became very drunk as indicated by the analysis of her blood made after her death showing an alcoholic concentration of thirty-four hundredths per cent by weight. The defendant's testimony is that during the evening he become drowsy and went to sleep with his head on the table on which he and his wife had been playing cards. When he awoke, he found his wife lying on the floor in the condition in which the officers later found her and thinking she was dead, he drove into Derry and notified the police. They returned with him and found the dead body of Mrs. LeNoir on the floor clad only in panties, shoes and stockings. Her dress, torn almost in half, and several pieces of her slip were found in the wood basket. She was lying on part of her slip.
The body was viewed by three doctors. The first one who was called to the scene saw one contusion with a scratch through it on the left side of the neck and another about the midline of the front of the neck. The next doctor, the medical referee, examined the body for external evidence about four hours later and found three contusions on the left side of the neck with a scratch through the middle one together with a fourth contusion on the supersternal notch. Dr. Moran who performed the autopsy about noon, did not note the contusions minutely but did observe two on the neck. In addition to the marks on the neck there were other marks on the arms and the autopsy disclosed application of further violence to the skull at a position which could probably not have been caused by a fall. The autopsy indicated death to have resulted from asphyxiation. Dr. Moran gave it as his opinion that the asphyxiation was caused by a mechanical obstruction of the air passage from the mouth to the lungs applied externally by hand.
The sole question raised by the defendant as to the sufficiency of the evidence has to do with the cause of asphyxiation. Both the State and the defendant agree that the cause of death was asphyxiation. The position of the State, as stated through the opinion of Dr. Moran, is that the small hemorrhages scattered through the lungs and the extensive rupturing of the thin walls of the small air sacs of the lungs combined with the external evidence of force applied to the throat in the particular positions that the contusions appeared support a finding and opinion that asphyxiation resulted from strangulation by a hand. The defendant contends that such an opinion is not of sufficient certainty to comply with the requirement of proof of essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In support of this contention, the defendant points out that the autopsy failed to disclose any damage to the soft tissues of the neck and that strangulation by a hand usually causes such internal damage. The doctor called by the defendant stated that...
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State v. Wong
...the State's evidence, but also evidence presented by the defendant after his directed verdict motion failed. See State v. LeNoir, 97 N.H. 462, 463, 92 A.2d 159, 159 (1952); State v. Newman, 74 N.H. 10, 15, 64 A. 761, 764 (1906). A criminal defendant is not required to present a case, but if......
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Coca v. State
...148 S.W.2d 343; Outler v. State, 154 Ark. 598, 243 S.W. 851. See generally State v. Nicholes, 135 Wash. 333, 237 P. 706; State v. Le Noir, 97 N.H. 462, 92 A.2d 159. Circumstances which the jury might properly have considered included Nelson's previous good health, the various blows and kick......
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State v. Reed
...of the record we are bound by the indisputable principle that conflicts in the testimony are for the triers of fact. State v. LeNoir, 97 N.H. 462, 92 A.2d 159. This does not mean that we can avoid our responsibility of passing on the total circumstances in each individual case to determine ......
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State v. Gagnon, 6067
...lesser offenses. See State v. Butman, 42 N.H. 490, 491-492 (1861); State v. Karvelos, 80 N.H. 528, 120 A. 263 (1923); State v. LeNoir, 97 N.H. 462, 92 A.2d 159 (1952). Counsel thereupon withdrew his request without excepting to the ruling of the court. Having thus voluntarily elected a tria......