State v. Potoniec

• Decision Date: 02 February 1912
• Docket Number: 17,412 - (4)
• Parties: STATE v. WOJCIECH POTONIEC
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

134 N.W. 305

117 Minn. 80

STATE v. WOJCIECH POTONIEC

Nos. 17,412 - (4)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

February 2, 1912

Defendant was indicted and tried in the district court for Hennepin county for the crime of murder in the first degree. The jury found him guilty of the crime of murder in the second degree, and he was sentenced to hard labor in the state prison for his natural life. From an order, Hale, J. denying his motion for a new trial, defendant appealed. Affirmed.

SYLLABUS

Homicide -- evidence.

Defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree. It is held:

1. The verdict was justified by the evidence.

2. The court did not err in the admission of evidence or in its instructions.

James A. Kellogg, for appellant.

George T. Simpson, Attorney General, and James Robertson, County Attorney, for the State.

OPINION

BUNN, J.

Defendant was tried on an indictment charging him with murder in the first degree, alleged to have been committed October 7, 1907, by strangling Anna Potoniec, his wife. He was convicted of murder in the second degree, and appeals from an order denying a new trial.

1. Defendant contends that the verdict was not justified by the evidence. We have carefully examined the record, and are unable to sustain this contention. Defendant and deceased were husband and wife, and for some time prior to October 7 1907, lived together in rooms on the second floor of a building at 1215 Third Street North, in Minneapolis. On Monday, October 7, 1907, defendant packed his personal effects in a trunk and left for Chicago. On Sunday, October 13, the occupant of the ground floor of the building, laving heard no movements in the rooms above during the week, unlocked the door and with two friends entered the rooms. They found Mrs. Potoniec lying dead on a mattress. She was dressed, and covered with a quilt. A cloth was tied tightly around her neck, knotted at the back and in front. Her face was swollen and black, and decomposition had begun. The cloth cut into the neck half an inch, and there was blood which apparently had come from the mouth of deceased. Mrs. Potoniec was last seen alive on October 7, and it was not contended that she did not die on that day. Three physicians testified that death was caused by strangulation. Defendant was indicted in November, 1907, and was arrested in Chicago in March, 1911. He at first gave an assumed name, but finally gave his correct name, and made statements to the officers, and afterwards to the county attorney, in which he admitted striking and choking his wife, throwing her down, and leaving for Chicago. A letter written by defendant to his mother October 10, 1907, was received in evidence. In this letter defendant stated that he had struck his wife in the face, that she had then taken poison and he left, not knowing whether she was dead or not. This outline is sufficient to indicate that there is no merit in the contention that the verdict of guilty was not justified. We hold that the evidence was...