People v. Brackett

510 N.E.2d 877 (1987)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

D, 21, entered the home of Elizabeth Winslow, an 85-year-old widow, for whom he had previously done yard work. During the course of that evening, he raped and severely beat Mrs. Winslow, forced her to write him a check for $125, cooked himself some food, and fell asleep for a time in an armchair. The first policeman on the scene found Mrs. Winslow lying naked on the living room hide-a-bed. She was severely bruised about the face and appeared to have a broken arm and various other injuries to her body. She said she had been raped, choked, and beaten. She had a broken arm, broken rib, bruises on her face, neck, arms, trunk, and inner thighs. Prior to the events, Mrs. Winslow was a 'feisty' old woman who lived alone and took care of herself. Mrs. Winslow became depressed and resisted efforts to feed her, and her condition progressively weakened. She was transferred to a nursing home and her prognosis was poor. A doctor ordered a nasal gastric tube to be used to try to feed her. The tube could not be used because Mrs. Winslow's nasal passages were too small, and her facial injuries made it too painful to insert. A few days later she died. The immediate cause of death was asphyxiation, which resulted from six ounces of food being aspirated into her trachea. Evidence was found of abdominal bruises around the colon and kidney, a broken rib, and facial bruises. The volume of food lodged in Mrs. Winslow's trachea was very large and would have been difficult for a normal, healthy person to expel. The circuit judge held that the defendant's acts were a contributing cause of Mrs. Winslow's death, in that D, through his criminal acts, set in motion a chain of events which culminated in her death. D was convicted of murder and appealed. The appellate court affirmed his ruling on causation. D claims that death was caused by an intervening event, namely, asphyxiation, which was totally unrelated to the crimes of rape and aggravated battery, perpetrated against Mrs. Winslow five weeks before she died.