United States v. Veltmann

6 F.3d 1483 (11th Cir. 1993)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Elizabeth died on January 7, 1990, during a fire in the home she shared with her husband, Carl (D). The couple had just returned home from a weeklong honeymoon cruise with Elizabeth’s son, Christopher (D1) and his new bride. The fire was caused by arson. The government contends that Ds sent fire to the house with knowledge that Elizabeth was inside and with the intent to recover insurance proceeds. Ds contend that Elizabeth, beset with financial worries and physical maladies committed suicide. When firefighters arrived on the scene, they found Elizabeth unconscious in the third-floor master bedroom. No one else was in the home. The fire started from three points with newspapers and a small amount of accelerant. The oven was turned to clean, and the burners were glowing. The fires were lit between 8:50-9:20 p.m. None of the ten smoke detectors were sounding when the firefighters arrived. The government contends that they were disarmed. Ds disputed this evidence along with the evidence that Elizabeth may have been locked in the house with no means of escape. There were no other suspects other than Ds. The defense contends that Elizabeth was suicidal with a blood alcohol level of 149 and a 133 level of Dalmane. She died of carbon monoxide intoxication. The physician did not consider suicide as it was not suggested by the police. There was no forensic evidence that she was attempting to escape, but she was discovered two feet away from the sliding glass door. She was found face down clutching a tissue or handkerchief, nearby bills, bank statements and family photos were strewn across the floor. After a year and a half, D found a suicide note written by Elizabeth and its authenticity was not challenged. There was evidence of a happy marriage but also evidence of Elizabeth’s deep distress over medical and financial problems. She became a prescription drug addict and suffered various episodes of serious physical conditions regarding drug overdoses. She forged prescriptions and tried to get a nurse and another friend to give her drugs illegally. An expert postulated that she took most of all of the drugs in her system near the time of death and that the sudden infusion of alcohol and drugs was consistent with suicide by overdose. With the delay of between 15-60 minutes from the overdoses, it would have been possible for her to set all the fires. The government’s expert believed that given the level of her overdoses she was not ambulatory during the times the fires were set. Her corporation had filed for bankruptcy in December 1989, the home was on the market, and in the months preceding her death, she tried to borrow money from many people. The most telling evidence was not admitted at trial. This was a videotaped deposition of Carl Engstrom who testified that Elizabeth extracted $500,000 from him over the past 25-30 years by blackmailing him over a brief affair. Engstrom believed that she would pay him back as she kept promising to do but a few months before she died, she told Engstrom about the possibility of her death and instructed him to contact D1 about being paid when she was gone. Just before the death, on the same date Engstrom had cut her off, and when confronted with this reality, she said that she was all washed up but did not threaten suicide. Expert testimony showed that most addiction-based suicides develop over a number of years and that her earlier statements along with Engstrom cutting her off was a major precipitating event in her suicide. Elizabeth told friends that she did not want to live any longer and that no one would ever have her house after she was gone and that she would destroy everything. The government argued greed and cellmate admissions from Ds while in jail. D’s offered Engstrom’s deposition as relevant hearsay admissible under 803(3) reflecting her state mind. The government objected claiming that she did not threaten to commit suicide in the last phone call and that threats of suicide months before her death were inadmissible hearsay and irrelevant. The trial court excluded the testimony. Ds were convicted and appealed.