similarities were that the attacks occurred in apartments, involved young women about the same age whom the defendant either knew or had dated, involved the use of a knife, and were sexually motivated
How later courts described this case
- similarities were that the attacks occurred in apartments, involved young women about the same age whom the defendant either knew or had dated, involved the use of a knife, and were sexually motivated
- prior violent acts relevant evidence of premeditation
- evidence of prior knifing probative of identity and premeditation, given similarity of offenses
- photographs of partially nude body of victim of sexual assault and multiple stab wounds
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Fromme. J.,
dissenting. Exhibits 17 and 18 were admitted into evidence with no foundation to establish their relevance. They graphically show a human heart and portions of the lungs removed from the chest cavity and lying at the feet of the victim on the autopsy table.
The only foundation evidence upon which these exhibits rest is testimony of Detective Scharer who took the pictures and merely stated that Exhibits 17 and 18 were photographs of the victim taken at the autopsy. After the pictures were admitted over objection, the pathologist testified as follows:
“Q Doctor, let me hand you, might help you, State’s Exhibits 16, 17 and 18, which have already been admitted into evidence as pictures taken during your autopsy. Would you look at those, so perhaps they might help you in explaining the, your findings to the jury. That is you in one of those pictures, is it?
“A Yes, it is.
“Q And is that Marsha Smith, or the body of Marsha Smith there?
"A Yes, it is.”
I am in hearty agreement with the rule stated in paragraph 3 of the syllabus but the rule, although stated, is not followed by the court in this case. These pictures merely show the butchery which occurred in making the autopsy. The heart and portions of lungs laid upon the table at the feet of a victim do not show the nature and extent of the wounds inflicted by the defendant. They merely depict the butchery of the victim which occurred at the hands of *652 the pathologist. The pathologist testified the heart had been pierced nine times with a knife but these pictures of the heart did not show the stab wounds and they were not used by the witness to support his oral testimony in any way. The only possible purpose of the prosecution in introducing these pictures was to prejudice and inflame the minds of the jury. Such a practice should not be condoned by this court and I respectfully dissent.