Title: Biddy v. State

State: mississippi

Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court

Document:

277 So. 2d 115 (1973) Mrs. Carolee BIDDY v. STATE of Mississippi. Nos. 47095, 47100. Supreme Court of Mississippi. January 8, 1973. Rehearing Denied February 26, 1973. *116 John R. Poole, Charles S. Wright, Harry Kelley, Jackson, for appellant. A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Karen Gilfoy, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. ROBERTSON, Justice: Mrs. Carolee Biddy was indicted by the Hinds County Circuit Court Grand Jury for the murder of her 6-year-old stepdaughter, Mona Biddy. A change of venue was granted to the Circuit Court of Jackson County, where appellant was tried for murder, but convicted of manslaughter by a Jackson County Petit Jury. She was sentenced to serve a term of 20 years in the State Penitentiary. About 7:55 A.M. on December 3, 1970, appellant called the Jackson Police Department to report the disappearance of Mona Biddy, her mentally retarded stepdaughter. A massive search was conducted by the Jackson Police Department, law enforcement officers of Hinds and Rankin Counties, three or four hundred National Guardsmen, and many civilians and students. On December 8th, five days after her reported disappearance, Mona's body was found by two fishermen in a cove on the Rankin County side of the Barnett Reservoir. Her body was at the water's edge and water from time to time would lap over it. The first assignment of error was that the corpus delicti was not proven to the exclusion of every reasonable theory consistent with innocence. *117 The corpus delicti in a homicide case consists of two fundamental facts: (1) The fact of the death of the deceased, and (2) The fact of the existence of a criminal agency as the cause of death. Pitts v. State, 43 Miss. 472 (1870). Both facts of the corpus delicti may be proved by circumstantial evidence. Perkins v. State, 160 Miss. 720, 135 So. 357 (1931). On the afternoon of December 8, 1970, immediately after the body had been found, Dr. Forrest Bratley, a skilled and experienced pathologist, performed a complete autopsy on Mona's body at the University Medical Center in Jackson. His detailed written findings (a part of the record) ended with Dr. Bratley's positive opinion that the most probable cause of death was suffocation. The report also stated: On June 24, 1971, Mona Biddy's body was exhumed, and a second autopsy performed by Dr. Forrest Bratley in conjunction with Dr. Donald Dore, Jr., the pathologist at the Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, Mississippi. This autopsy was performed at Barrytown, Alabama, where the child had been buried. This second autopsy was performed for the express purpose of determining whether Mona had swallowed any Liquid Plumr prior to her death. No signs or indications of any kind were found that the child had swallowed any caustic or corrosive substance. After a very detailed and thorough examination on the witness stand, Dr. Bratley stated that in his opinion death was caused by suffocation and that this suffocation was by external application of force by someone stronger than the child. Dr. Bratley never waived in his opinion as to the cause of death, even though he was extensively cross-examined as to other possible causes of death and the fact that findings of death by suffocation are similar to findings of death from heart disease, shock, laryngeal spasm, bronchial spasm, respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest. From his knowledge gained from personally performing the first and second autopsies, he clearly and decisively negatived any other cause of death. On the second autopsy, he and Dr. Donald Dore found no evidence whatsoever of Liquid Plumr or other caustic or corrosive substance in Mona's digestive tract or vital organs. If Mona had had laryngeal spasm it would have had to have been caused by drinking Liquid Plumr or other caustic substance. Dr. Howard Nichols, a skilled and experienced pediatrician of Jackson, who had been Mona's doctor for the first 1 1/2 years of her life, after a detailed study of both autopsy reports testified that it was his considered opinion that the probable cause of death was suffocation due to external pressure over her nose and mouth. He further testified that it was his opinion that Liquid Plumr was not involved in Mona's death. Dr. Arthur Hume, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University Medical Center and Toxicologist for the Mississippi Crime Laboratory, examined and tested blood samples, tissues of vital organs, gastric contents and other samples from Mona's body on December 9th, 1970, the day after her body was found, for poisons and drugs. Dr. Hume testified that he would consider Liquid Plumr a poison. He found no poison of any kind in her system. He did find a slight trace of dramamine, a stomach settler. Dr. Milton Helpern, the chief medical examiner of the city of New York, after examining the autopsy reports, testified that he could not state with certainty the cause of death. He testified as to possible causes only. *118 Dr. Lucien L. Leape, a pediatric surgeon with the University of Kansas Medical School, who had made a special study of problems linked with lye ingestion by children, testified that he could not say what was the cause of death. He did testify that he had never heard of any child dying as a result of swallowing Liquid Plumr. The testimony of all of these witnesses, and the exhibits introduced, were for the consideration of the trial jury. We feel that there was ample evidence in the record to prove the corpus delicti beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every reasonable theory consistent with innocence. The next assignment of error was that the two oral statements made by appellant were inadmissible under the fifth, sixth, and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States. It must be remembered, in discussing this assignment of error, that the appellant and her husband, Ted L. Biddy, asked the Jackson Police Department for its help in locating their mentally retarded daughter. Every lead that the police would get was discussed and examined with the Biddys. The police were in constant touch with the Biddys and the Biddys with them. Both were apparently interested in what had happened to Mona Biddy. It must also be kept in mind that, at the specific instance of the Biddys, the Jackson Police Department and its trained and skilled investigators and indeed the law enforcement officers of both Hinds and Rankin Counties and of the State of Mississippi, had expended a tremendous amount of time and effort and thought into solving the problem of what had happened to Mona. On December 15, 1970, the police had found another item of clothing apparently worn by Mona at the time of her disappearance, so they contacted Mrs. Biddy, and she called her husband. The end result was that Mr. and Mrs. Biddy came down to police headquarters. Lieutenant Wesley L. Reeves, Jackson Police Department, who had been on the case from the beginning, in the presence of Lieutenant Price of the Jackson Police Department, and Thomas Zebert, County Attorney of Rankin County, asked Mrs. Biddy to go over once again the details of Mona's disappearance. Reeves testified that after she had done this: At this time she signed a written waiver, which set forth her rights in detail. Reeves, Price and Zebert then signed as witnesses to her signature. She denied any involvement in Mona's disappearance. Later on December 15th Mrs. Biddy and her husband went in their car to Highway Patrol Headquarters. Her rights were again explained to her and she signed a second detailed waiver. On the night of December 16th, Lieutenant Reeves, while off-duty and at his home, received a telephone call from the Biddys reporting that appellant had been attacked and stabbed. The Biddys wanted him to come to their home, so he called Lieutenant Price and they went to the Biddy home. Mrs. Biddy told them about the attack and how she had gotten away from her assailant. She had a superficial cut on her hip. Late at night on December 26, 1970, Lt. Reeves received another telephone call from the Biddy home. It was reported to him that 2 1/2-year-old Candice Biddy had been kidnapped. It was a very cold night and Lt. Reeves went immediately to the Biddy home. Mrs. Biddy stated that someone came in the window, came by Mr. Biddy who was asleep in the den, got Candice, and went back out the window, tying up the family dog and putting him into the closet. Mr. Biddy found Candice, scantily clad, near a ditch in the Biddy backyard. Lt. Reeves checked the window that Mrs. Biddy had pointed out and found dust on the windowsill that had not been disturbed. Lt. Reeves was advised by Mr. and Mrs. Biddy that they were going to Georgia on the next day, December 27th, to visit Mr. Biddy's parents. Early on the morning of December 27th Lts. Reeves and Price went back to the Biddy home, looked around the backyard and the ditch but could find no evidence that someone had kidnapped Candice. Being advised that the Biddys were ready to leave town and that Mr. Biddy would like to talk to them, the Biddys followed Reeves and Price back to police headquarters in their own car. Out of the presence of Mrs. Biddy, Reeves and Price told Mr. Biddy that they had found that Mrs. Biddy had not modeled clothes for a local clothing store and received clothes for her services, as both Mrs. Biddy and Mr. Biddy had told them. They also told Mr. Biddy that Mrs. Biddy had not gone to a health studio once a week, as she had told them. Reeves and Price also told Mr. Biddy that their investigation of the assault and stabbing of Mrs. Biddy had convinced them that it did not happen. Mr. Biddy agreed with them. They also informed Mr. Biddy that Candice Biddy had not been kidnapped as Mrs. Biddy reported. Biddy agreed with them on this and asked to talk to his wife. Before they had a chance to talk very much, Reeves was advised that Mr. Charles Wright, a local attorney who had been called by Mr. Biddy's partner, Mal Sims, was downstairs and wanted to see Biddy. While Wright and Biddy were talking, Reeves and Price told Mrs. Biddy that they would like to ask her some questions, and before asking her any questions Lieutenant Reeves said: Mrs. Biddy then continued her story of what happened the night of December 2nd. Mona had gotten hold of some Liquid Plumr at about 7:30 P.M., had drunk some of it, that it made her violently ill and she vomited. Mrs. Biddy tried to feed her but Mona could not eat. Mrs. Biddy called Dr. Howard Nichols, her pediatrician, and Dr. Nichols advised her to examine Mona's mouth and if her mouth was burned on the inside to call him back. If Mona's mouth was not burned, she was all right and just give her something to settle her stomach. Mrs. Biddy put Mona to bed around 8:30 P.M. Mrs. Biddy went by Mona's bed about 10:30 P.M. and found her "scooted down the bed" with the bed clothing wrapped around her head. Lt. Reeves continued: We think that this testimony was properly admitted. It is perfectly clear to *121 us that Mrs. Biddy thoroughly understood her rights and that she had intelligently waived them, not once but twice in writing, and also several times orally. Even on December 27th, immediately before her statements she acknowledged that she understood her rights. There are no magic words that law officers must meticulously repeat each time they question a person. This conclusion was also reached in Maguire v. United States, 396 F.2d 327 (9th Cir.1968); Sossamon v. State, 245 Ark. 306, 432 S.W.2d 469 (1968); People v. Hill, 66 Cal. 2d 536, 58 Cal. Rptr. 340, 426 P.2d 908 (1967); State v. Graves, 259 La. 526, 250 So. 2d 727 (1971); State v. Rowe, 77 Wash. 2d 955, 468 P.2d 1000 (1970). Appellant next contends that the court erred in granting an instruction advising the jury that should they convict appellant of manslaughter, the court might sentence appellant to the penitentiary for a term not to exceed twenty years. This is the instruction complained of: This same contention was made long ago in Stevenson v. State, 136 Miss. 22, 100 So. 525 (1924). The Court in Stevenson answered this argument in this way: In Blalock v. State, 148 Miss. 1, 113 So. 627 (1927), in ruling on a similar manslaughter instruction, the Court had this to say: The final assignment of error was that the trial court erred in overruling the motion to vacate the judgment because the jury verdict was returned on Sunday and the trial judge sentenced the appellant on Sunday. The five-day trial was concluded on Friday, September 3, 1971, and the jury on that day, with the exhibits and written instructions of the Court, retried to the jury room to consider what verdict they should return. They were unable to reach a verdict and they resumed their deliberations on Saturday, September 4th. Still being unable to reach a verdict, they resumed their deliberations about 9:30 A.M., Sunday, September 5th, and about 2:30 P.M. they returned their verdict in open court. Monday, September 6, 1971, would be Labor Day. So, the Court inquired of counsel for the Defendant whether they desired that sentence be deferred until a later date. Counsel for the Defendant responded that they did not so desire. Whereupon, the Court sentenced the Defendant to twenty (20) years in the State Penitentiary. In Burrage v. State, 101 Miss. 598, 58 So. 217 (1912), a murder prosecution was concluded on Saturday night, and the jury returned its verdict into court at 12:06 A.M. Sunday morning. In that case, it was contended that the verdict and judgment were null and void because rendered on Sunday. This Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, stating: In State v. Foss, 158 La. 471, 104 So. 211 (1925), trial was begun on Friday and the taking of evidence was concluded on Saturday night at 11:20. Counsel for defendant stated to the court that he was eager to continue the trial. Whereupon, the prosecutor objected on the ground that if the trial proceeded and resulted in conviction that the continuation of the proceeding on Sunday might be urged as a ground for a new trial. Defense counsel gave his word that if the case were allowed to proceed no advantage would be taken of the fact that some of the proceedings had been held on Sunday. The case proceeded, with argument of counsel ending at 12:25 A.M. Sunday, at which time the jury was charged and the verdict was returned and recorded at 2:00 A.M., Sunday. Appellate defense counsel (not the trial defense counsel) urged that these Sunday proceedings were void. In Foss, the Supreme Court of Louisiana held: The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed. Affirmed. GILLESPIE, C.J., and PATTERSON, INZER and BROOM, JJ., concur. INZER, Justice: The only assignment of error in the Petition for Rehearing is: In her brief in support of her Petition for Rehearing, appellant quotes from Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444, 445, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 1612, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 707 (1966): In our original opinion, we discussed at length the two occasions on December 15, *124 1970, when appellant's Miranda rights were explained orally in detail, and when she signed two written waivers setting forth her rights in detail. We quoted the testimony of Lt. Reeves wherein he testified that on December 27, 1970, he again asked Mrs. Biddy if she understood her rights, and she replied that she understood them. After a careful search of the record, we find that nowhere in this record does Mrs. Biddy, the appellant, request, indicate, hint or express a desire to speak with or consult an attorney; although she was well aware that an attorney was available. Nowhere in any shape, form or fashion does she express a desire to have an attorney present during any questioning, nor does her husband express any wish or desire to have an attorney present. All statements that Mrs. Biddy made on December 27, 1970, were made freely and voluntarily and mostly on the solicitation of her husband. Ted L. Biddy, the husband of appellant Carolee Biddy, testified for the defense on direct examination as follows: In summary, it is apparent from the record in this case that all of the constitutional rights of Mrs. Biddy had been fully explained to her, she fully understood them, and with this knowledge, she freely and voluntarily made the statements complained of, mostly at the solicitation of her husband. It is not contended that she was in any way coerced, threatened or made any promises by the officers. She never at any time expressed any desire to speak with or consult with the attorney with whom her husband conferred. Neither did she express any desire to consult with any other attorney or have an attorney present before she made any statement. A statement made under these circumstances certainly should be and is admissible in evidence. For the reasons stated the petition for rehearing is denied. All Justices concur.