Case Title: Commonwealth v. Presley

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: virginia

Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Date: 1998-11-06T00:00:00Z

Document:
Present:  All the Justices 
 
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA 
 
 
            OPINION BY JUSTICE LEROY R. HASSELL, SR. 
v.  Record No. 980325 
November 6, 1998 
 
WILLIAM ALAN PRESLEY 
 
FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 
 
 
In this appeal, we consider whether the evidence was 
sufficient to support the defendant's conviction for voluntary 
manslaughter. 
 
Tried in Loudoun County by a jury and convicted of 
voluntary manslaughter, William Alan Presley was sentenced to 
one year and six months imprisonment.  Presley appealed his 
conviction to the Court of Appeals.  He asserted that the 
evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because 
the Commonwealth purportedly failed to prove that he killed 
the victim, Sandra D. Laing.  The Court of Appeals, in an 
unpublished opinion, agreed with the defendant, reversed the 
judgment of the trial court, and set aside the conviction.  
Presley v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2265-96-4 (January 20, 
1998).  We awarded the Commonwealth an appeal. 
 
We have enunciated the following principles of appellate 
review which are pertinent here.  When a defendant challenges 
on appeal the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his 
conviction, it is the duty of an appellate court to examine 
the evidence that tends to support the conviction and to 
permit the conviction to stand unless the conviction is 
plainly wrong or without evidentiary support.  Commonwealth v. 
Jenkins, 255 Va. 516, 520, 499 S.E.2d 263, 265 (1998); Tyler 
v. Commonwealth, 254 Va. 162, 165-66, 487 S.E.2d 221, 223 
(1997).  If there is evidence to support the conviction, an 
appellate court is not permitted to substitute its own 
judgment for that of the finder of fact, even if the appellate 
court might have reached a different conclusion.  Jenkins, 255 
Va. at 520, 499 S.E.2d at 265; Tyler, 254 Va. at 165-66, 487 
S.E.2d at 223; Cable v. Commonwealth, 243 Va. 236, 239, 415 
S.E.2d 218, 220 (1992). 
 
Additionally, upon appellate review, the evidence and all 
inferences reasonably deducible therefrom must be examined in 
the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing 
party in the trial court.  Any evidence properly admitted at 
trial is subject to this review.  Jenkins, 255 Va. at 521, 499 
S.E.2d at 265. 
 
The following facts are relevant to our disposition of 
this appeal.  Presley, Laing, and William P. Rossbach resided 
together in a house in Loudoun County.  Each of the occupants 
used a separate bedroom.  Presley and Laing were described as 
"boyfriend" and "girlfriend," and they had a sexual 
relationship. 
 
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On July 31, 1995, about 4:30 p.m., Rossbach drove Laing 
in his car to visit a physician.  Laing had complained of 
having "the flu or something" and feeling "really sick."  
Laing and Rossbach returned from the doctor's office between 
5:30 and 6:00 p.m.  
 
Earlier that day, before Rossbach took Laing to the 
doctor's office, she stumbled and hit her head on a doorknob.  
In response to Rossbach's question "[a]re you all right up 
there?", Laing said, "Yeah.  I just kind of slipped." 
 
About midnight on July 31, 1995, Sandra Everhart arrived 
at the house.  She went to Rossbach's bedroom, removed her 
clothing, and attempted to have sexual intercourse with him.  
Rossbach, who had "too much to drink," was unable to have 
sexual relations with Everhart.  Presley entered Rossbach's 
room and told Everhart, in Rossbach's presence, that Presley 
wanted to have sexual intercourse with her.  Presley and 
Rossbach began to argue, and Laing, who had heard the 
conversation, appeared at the door to the room. 
 
Laing was upset, and she told Presley to leave the room.  
She also directed Everhart to leave.  Rossbach, in an effort 
to humiliate Presley, told Laing that he had not forgotten 
about a sexual affair that Laing had with a man named Tom.  
Presley had not known about this relationship.  Laing denied 
the relationship, but Presley became enraged. 
 
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Sometime between midnight and 1:00 a.m., after Everhart 
left the house, Rossbach heard "banging and stuff going on."  
Presley and Laing were in her bedroom arguing about the affair 
she purportedly had with Tom.  Rossbach entered the bedroom, 
told Presley and Laing to "[c]ut it out," and went downstairs 
to the kitchen.  While he was in the kitchen, Rossbach heard 
"a bunch of yelling," and he heard Laing say, "[p]lease don't 
hit me." 
 
While Rossbach was walking up the stairs to return to his 
room, he heard Presley call Laing a "fucking bitch."  Rossbach 
went to Laing's bedroom.  She was on the floor naked, and 
Presley had "his hand around her throat."  Rossbach said, 
"[w]hat the hell?"  Presley, who was choking her, stopped.  
Presley "was pretty much just kind of yelling in grief, and 
[he] let [Laing] go as soon as [Rossbach] said 'what the hell 
is going on?'"  Presley stated, "[s]orry, God.  I really 
messed up."  After Rossbach saw Presley with his hand around 
Laing's neck, she did not move.  Later, when Rossbach entered 
Laing's room, he observed that she was clothed, lying on her 
bed, snoring. 
 
Alvin D. Blankenship, a Virginia State Trooper, spoke 
with Presley by telephone sometime between midnight and 2:00 
a.m. on August 1, 1995.  Presley told Blankenship that Presley 
wanted the State Police to remove Laing from his house because 
 
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she "was a whore" and was "using drugs."  Presley also stated 
that "sometimes he [got] so mad that he just [felt] like 
knocking [Laing] in the head."  Blankenship warned Presley 
that if he committed any acts of violence, he would be 
arrested.  Presley responded that the Loudoun County Police 
always arrested him when the police officers went to his home. 
 
About 1:46 a.m. on August 1, 1995, Sergeant Eric Noble, a 
deputy sheriff with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department, 
responded to a call from the defendant's home regarding an 
unconscious female.  Sergeant Noble arrived at the house, 
Presley met him at the front door, and permitted him to enter.  
When Sergeant Noble entered Laing's bedroom, she was lying on 
the floor, her breathing was extremely "ragged and labored, 
and [she] appeared to be in [a] very serious condition." 
 
After Sergeant Noble used his radio to request medical 
help, he asked Presley what had happened.  Presley stated that 
"he beat the hell out of her on the floor, that he had hit her 
with the chair."  Sergeant Noble saw pieces of a broken chair 
above the victim's head.  He also observed a large tear on the 
right side of her shorts, a small amount of blood on the 
victim's left thigh, and small spots of blood on the carpet 
adjacent to her body. 
 
Another deputy sheriff, Clete Kresge, arrived at 
Presley's residence.  Presley stated to Deputy Kresge twice, 
 
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"I'll admit I did hit her tonight."  Presley also told Deputy 
Kresge later that morning, "[s]he had pissed me off tonight 
. . . I tore her to shreds."  Kresge observed that the 
victim's blouse was torn, and her eye was discolored. 
 
Everhart testified at trial that she did not notice any 
bruises or physical marks on the victim's face when she had 
been at Presley's house on July 31.  Rossbach also testified 
that Laing's eye was not discolored, and she did not have 
bruises on her body before her altercation with the defendant. 
 
Laing was transported to the Loudoun Hospital Center 
where she died at 4:14 a.m.  Dr. Frances P. Field, an 
assistant chief medical examiner for the Northern Virginia 
District Medical Examiner's Office, performed an autopsy on 
Laing's body.  Field observed that Laing's body had a bruise 
on the right eye and a small reddish abrasion or scrape mark 
on the left forehead.  Her tongue was bruised, and numerous 
bruises were found on Laing's legs, back, arms, and elbow. 
 
Dr. Field determined that Laing had a large subdural 
hematoma on the left side and top of her head.  A subdural 
hematoma is an accumulation of blood between the covering and 
surface of the brain.  Dr. Field performed a microscopic 
examination on blood taken from Laing's subdural hematoma.  
The absence of inflammatory cells on the dura indicated to Dr. 
Field that the hemorrhage was the result of "very recent 
 
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bleeding in the head, within several hours of death, or 
minutes . . . ."  Dr. Field conducted a microscopic 
examination of the tissue around the victim's eye, and she 
concluded that the presence of intact red cells and a small 
infiltration of white blood cells or inflammatory cells 
indicated that this injury occurred within four hours of 
death.  Dr. Field testified that the bruise on the back of the 
victim's left thigh and left elbow were received within 
several hours before death. 
 
Dr. Field opined within a reasonable degree of medical 
certainty that the victim's subdural hematoma was caused by 
blunt force trauma.  Dr. Field stated that the victim's 
history of chronic alcohol abuse, her extensive use of 
prescription drugs, the victim's malformed brainstem, and the 
curvature of her spine did not contribute to her death.  Dr. 
Field testified that the victim's fall, which occurred before 
4:30 p.m. on July 31, 1995, did not contribute to her death. 
 
Presley adduced evidence at trial that the victim's death 
was attributable to causes other than his acts.  Several 
factual witnesses testified that the victim had poor motor 
skills, that she fell frequently, and that she had bruises on 
her legs.  Nicholas T. Lappas, who qualified as an expert 
witness on the subjects of toxicology and pharmacology, 
testified that in his opinion, Laing's death was consistent 
 
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with a drug overdose caused by the prescription medication 
that she had ingested.  Dr. John E. Adams, a forensic 
pathologist, testified that Laing's death was related to a 
congenital deformity of her spine and skull combined with her 
chronic liver disease.  Dr. Adams also opined that the cause 
of Laing's death was a "head injury with subdural hematoma, 
combined with drugs and alcohol."  Dr. John H. Lossing, a 
neurologist, testified that Laing died of suffocation because 
the "doctors in the emergency room were unable to successfully 
intubate her."  Finally, during the defendant's cross-
examination of Dr. Field, she testified that the subdural 
hematoma occurred within 24 hours of the victim's death. 
 
The Commonwealth must prove, as an essential element of 
its case, that the victim's death resulted from the criminal 
agency of the defendant.  Opanowich v. Commonwealth, 196 Va. 
342, 355, 83 S.E.2d 432, 439-40 (1954).  We stated in Bowie v. 
Commonwealth, 184 Va. 381, 390, 35 S.E.2d 345, 348 (1945), 
that "[d]eath must be proved either by direct testimony or by 
presumptive evidence of the strongest kind; but the existence 
of the criminal agency as the cause of the death and the 
identity of the agency may be established by circumstantial 
evidence." 
 
We hold that there is sufficient evidence of record which 
would have permitted the jury to find beyond a reasonable 
 
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doubt that Presley's acts caused Laing's death.  The jury, 
which considered all the evidence, was entitled to find that 
Presley hit Laing with a blunt object and that the resulting 
trauma produced the large subdural hematoma which caused her 
death.  Field's medical testimony, the substantial physical 
evidence, and Presley's admissions that "he beat the hell out 
of [Laing] on the floor" and that he had "tor[n] [Laing] to 
shreds" are facts which would support the jury's finding that 
Presley's acts caused the victim's death. 
 
We do recognize that the defendant presented evidence 
that the victim's death may have been attributable to other 
causes.  However, it is the province of the jury, rather than 
an appellate court, to weigh the facts and to judge the 
credibility of the various lay and expert witnesses. 
 
For these reasons, we will reverse the judgment of the 
Court of Appeals, and we will reinstate Presley's conviction 
in accordance with the trial court's judgment order. 
Reversed and final judgment. 
 
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