State v. Walle
| Decision Date | 01 March 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 36631,36631 |
| Citation | 182 Neb. 642,156 N.W.2d 810 |
| Parties | STATE of Nebraska, Appellee, v. Leonard WALLE, Jr., Appellant. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Malice and a purpose to kill are essential elements of murder in the second degree.
2. A photograph of a homicide victim which tends to illustrate a controverted issue is admissible where there is proper foundational evidence.
3. Where an indigent defendant elects to defend himself, it is within the discretion of the trial court to appoint the public defender as his technical adviser.
4. Such a defendant has no absolute right to be placed in a private cell, given access to a typewriter, carbon paper, legal pads, and a law library, or to be furnished with a daily transcript of the testimony.
A. Q. Wolf, Public Defender, Bennett G. Hornstein, Asst. Public Defender, Omaha, for appellant.
Clarence A. H. Meyer, Atty. Gen., Bernard L. Packett, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lincoln, for appellee.
Heard before WHITE, C.J., and CARTER, SPENCER, BOSLAUGH, SMITH, McCOWN and NEWTON, JJ.
Leonard Wymer Walle, Jr., was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. His motion for new trial was overruled and he has appealed.
The record shows that Marilyn April Walle, the defendant's wife, was shot to death in their apartment in the Hamilton Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 1, 1966. Mrs. Walle was a dancer employed at the Roam Inn. She had given two performances on the evening preceding the murder and had returned to the hotel with the defendant at about 1:40 a.m.
Leona Forsberg, an employee of the Roam Inn and a friend of the deceased, testified that the defendant called her at about 3 a.m. on September 1, 1966, and asked her to come to the hotel. When she arrived at the hotel, the defendant told her that his wife was dead; that "I shot her"; and that "* * * it wasn't one shot; it was lots and lots of shots." Miss Forsberg then called the police and the defendant was arrested.
The defendant denied that he had shot his wife, but offered no explanation for the murder other than it must have occurred while he was absent from the apartment, for about 5 minutes, or while he was bathing. The jury had the right to accept the testimony of Miss Forsberg and reject that of the defendant. The evidence sustains the verdict.
The State produced photographs of the deceased taken at the hotel and at the county morgue, six of which were received in evidence over the objection of the defendant. Later one photograph was withdrawn. The admission of the five exhibits is assigned as error.
Malice and a purpose to kill are essential elements of murder in the second degree. S. 28--402, R.R.S1943; State v. Marion, 174 Neb. 698, 119 N.W.2d 164. The burden was upon the State to prove both of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
A photograph of a homicide victim which tends to illustrate a controverted issue is admissible where there is proper foundational evidence. Washington v. State, 160 Neb. 385, 70 N.W.2d 378.
The evidence shows that eight bullets entered the body of the deceased causing eight primary entrance wounds, seven primary exit wounds, and four secondary entrance wounds. The hotel photographs served to illustrate testimony concerning the scene of the crime. The pathologist used the morgue photographs to illustrate his testimony, and this enabled the jury to visualize the wounds. The photographs were relevant and material to the issues concerning the cause and manner of death of the victim and were properly admitted.
The defendant's other assignment of error relates to the ruling on a pretrial motion for necessary aids to defense. The motion was made and overruled just before the trial commenced.
The defendant was represented by the public defender at the preliminary hearing and at his arraignment in district...
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Ligda v. Superior Court
...an advisory capacity in People v. Pilgrim (1958) 160 Cal.App.2d 528, 529--530, 325 P.2d 143, a Solano County case. In State v. Walle (1968) 182 Neb. 642, 156 N.W.2d 810, the defendant was charged with the murder of his wife. We quote (156 N.W.2d, pp. 811--812): 'On January 30, 1967, the def......
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...with the right to counsel." Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 835, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). In State v. Walle, 182 Neb. 642, 156 N.W.2d 810 (1968), the court addressed a situation nearly identical to the one presented in the present case. In Walle, the court appointed the pu......
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Walle v. Sigler
...adopt such an idea here. Affirmed. * Senior Circuit Judge, Tenth Judicial Circuit, sitting by special designation. 1 State v. Walle, 182 Neb. 642, 156 N.W.2d 810 (1967). 2 See, e. g., State v. Williams, 182 Neb. 379, 155 N.W.2d 189, 191 (1967); Reizenstein v. State, 165 Neb. 865, 87 N.W.2d ......
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Walle v. Sigler
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