People v. Stewart

40 N.Y.2d 692 (1976)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D was charged with stabbing and killing Daniel Smith. D stabbed Smith. Smith later died at a hospital. The stabbing occurred when D arrived unexpectedly at his former girlfriend's Brooklyn apartment on the evening of October 8, 1971. He found Daniel Smith there and ordered him to leave at knife point. When Smith suggested that they talk it over, D rejected the idea and stabbed him in the stomach. Smith was then taken to a Brooklyn hospital where he was operated on later that evening. Dt was arrested and charged with assault. On November 8, 1971, Smith died in the hospital and D was charged with murder. P called Dr. Di Maio, the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner to establish the cause of death. The only evidence regarding the cause of death came from Di Maio and the reports of the operation, both of which were introduced into evidence. Smith had a single knife wound in the abdomen which had punctured the stomach. Smith was given Curare which meant that the anesthesiologist had to 'breathe' for him by squeezing a bag of oxygen into the lungs, a procedure called ventilation. The surgeons discovered that Smith also had an incarcerated hernia. They sutured the wounds and completed the operation on the stomach. The surgeons proceeded to correct the hernia. During that phase of the operation, Smith's body was turning blue and there was no pulse. Smith went into cardiac arrest. Smith suffered a loss of oxygen to the brain and massive brain damage. He died a month later without ever regaining consciousness. At the time of death, the stomach wound had completely healed. Di Maio stated that in his opinion death was caused by 'a stab wound of the abdomen, stomach, cardiac arrest during surgical correction of the stab wound and another operation which was indicated during the surgical procedure with sepsis, which means infection, and kidney shut down.' Di Maio concluded that the stab wound was ultimately responsible for this. Di Maio admitted that the hernia operation was not absolutely necessary but it was good practice on the part of the doctors to fix the issue. When he was asked for his opinion as to whether the patient would have survived the operation if the surgeons had simply treated the stomach wound without '[attending] to the additional hernia operation', he answered, 'The chances are he would.' Di Maio could not explain exactly what caused Smith’s cardiac arrest. He was hesitant to conclude on the issue because the surgeons’ report and the anesthesiologist’s report were at odds on the issue. The jury found D guilty of manslaughter in the first degree on the theory that he assaulted Daniel Smith to inflict serious physical injury and, without intending to do so, caused his death. D appealed.