State v. Grose

982 S.W.2d 349 (1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D and Jamie Forbes, were romantically acquainted. Things between then went bad and Forbes instituted stalking and harassment charges against D. The day before the scheduled hearing on these charges, D stated to a friend, William Carter, that he was going to kill Forbes. He showed Carter the rifle he planned to use. The appellant explained that he was going to have to do 'a year anyway' on the stalking charges, so he figured that he would kill Forbes and 'they would just think he was crazy and he could get off on insanity.' Carter called the Millington police. D found Forbes driving down the road before the police could prevent the homicide. D pulled up behind her car and shot her with a high-powered rifle. The appellant sped away in his vehicle. Forbes suffered tremendous trauma and was in the hospital for several weeks. At the time of her release, she was a quadriplegic. Two weeks after her release from the hospital, her fever became extremely high, and she was readmitted to the hospital. She fell into a coma. After eight days, her family decided that she should not be resuscitated in the event of cardiac or pulmonary arrest. She died soon thereafter. D was indicted for first-degree murder. The pathologist testified that the cause of death was gunshot wounds. P proved that, had she not been hospitalized, she would have died from her wounds within hours. D was convicted of first-degree murder and appealed. D argues that the family’s no resuscitation order was the cause of death.