Title: State of Oregon v. Kader

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Affirmed May 12, 1954.
*301 Nels Peterson and Frank H. Pozzi, of Portland, *302 argued the cause for appellant. With them on the brief was Sidney I. Lezak, of Portland.
J. Raymond Carskadon and Charles E. Raymond, Deputy District Attorneys, of Portland, argued the cause for the respondent. With them on the brief was John B. McCourt, District Attorney, of Portland.
Before LATOURETTE, Chief Justice, and WARNER, ROSSMAN, LUSK, BRAND and PERRY, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
ROSSMAN, J.
This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the circuit court which found her guilty of the crime of manslaughter (ORS 163.040). The indictment charged that on January 23, 1952, the defendant, "by the use of the hands", killed her three-year-old daughter Sherry by asphyxiation. The indictment was appropriate to a charge of murder in the first degree. The defendant's plea was "not guilty."
The defendant submits assignments of error which challenge rulings adverse to her that (1) denied a motion made by her for a directed verdict on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence; (2) refused to instruct the jury upon excusable homicide; (3) instructed the jury upon the subject of consciousness of guilt; (4) permitted a medical witness called by the state to express an opinion concerning the cause of bruises which appeared upon the deceased's face; and (5) refused to order a state witness to produce papers from which he had refreshed his memory before entering the witness stand.
The face of the deceased child had discolorations under the chin, upon both cheeks and over the bridge of the nose. The state claims that January 23, 1952, *303 between 3:15 and 5:00 p.m. the defendant clasped a hand firmly over the mouth and nose of Sherry, causing the discoloration thereby and effecting her death through asphyxiation. No person who testified saw the purported act occur. The state also claims that after the defendant had brought about Sherry's death she cast the body into a sump upon the grounds of the East Side plant of the Portland Gas & Coke Company. The plant is situated a few blocks from the home which the defendant occupied. January 25, at about midnight, she led the officers to the sump and showed them the body floating in water which filled the lower two feet of the sump. The latter was seven feet wide and nine feet long. Its depth was about 12 feet. Old-fashioned cellar doors which met in the middle covered the top.
The defendant, 21 years of age, was the mother of two children, one of whom was the deceased Sherry, three years of age, and the other was Georgina, known as Vickie, four years of age. The trial judge ruled that, due to Vickie's tender years, she was not competent to give testimony. The defendant did not testify. The first assignment of error renders it incumbent upon us to review the evidence, especially that which the state produced. The evidence covers 1,225 pages. In addition there are many exhibits.
The defendant resided with her two children in the basement apartment of a house owned by her stepfather and mother in Portland, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Sing. The Sings occupied the main part of the house. The apartment in which the defendant and her two children lived took up only a portion of the basement. In the remaining section were a flight of stairs leading to the first floor and some rubbish which included several small pieces of concrete. Although the Sings *304 occupied the main part of the house, we shall refer to the latter as the defendant's home.
The defendant cared well for her children. The Sings described her relationship with them as generally good. Mrs. Sing declared that "sometimes she was a little bit too severe with them," and Mr. Sing believed that she was "meaner" to Sherry than to Vickie.
A taxicab driver testified that Thursday, January 23, 1952, at a few minutes after 3:00 p.m. he drove the defendant and her two daughters home from downtown Portland. On that day rain fell intermittently. Precipitation occurred around 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. When the cab reached the defendant's home, the driver lifted the children from it across the wet parking grass to the sidewalk. In so doing he came close to the faces of the children. He observed nothing unusual in their appearance. Shortly after the defendant reached home she requested Mr. Sing to drive her to a postoffice station in that vicinity, but when Sing noticed that the time was 3:15 p.m. he told her that the trip would be useless, explaining that the station's hour for closing was 3:00 p.m. Sing then drove to his brother's restaurant and did not return home until 6:00 p.m. The evidence just reviewed, according to the state, shows that the defendant was with her children on the afternoon when Sherry was killed. It also shows, so the state claims, that at that time no bruises, marks or discolorations were upon Sherry's face.
At about 5:42 p.m. of that day (January 23) two police officers who were operating a prowl car received a radio call ordering them to go to the defendant's home. Two minutes later, when they spoke to the defendant, she told them, according to one of the officers, that about 15 minutes before they came her daughter Vickie, who had been playing outside, told her that *305 "an old man with gray hair, who was dirty, in a black car, had grabbed Sherry and  into his car and drove off." Upon hearing the defendant's statement, one of the officers telephoned to the central police station and the other drove the defendant and Vickie around the neighborhood in an effort to find Sherry and her purported abductor.
At six o'clock of that evening, P.E. Lippold, a sergeant of the Portland police department, called upon the defendant and was told by her that Vickie had said "the man had driven up, that he was an old dirty man, and that he had gray hair, similar to grandmother's hair, and that he was wearing coveralls with a zipper front; that it was an old dark sedan and dirty and that he had stopped and said, `Hi, little girls, come over here.' And then that he grabbed Sherry by the arm and put her in the car." At 7:00 p.m. Lippold again spoke to the defendant. This time he was accompanied by two other members of the police department. He testified:
At 11:00 p.m. of the same day (January 23) Lippold again interviewed the defendant. This time he and a fellow officer (Nolan) inquired as to the father of the children and was told that the father was a Mr. George Dollarhide who lived in California. The *306 defendant expressed the belief that Dollarhide was not the person who had taken Sherry, for, according to what she told the officers, "the children knew George and that Vickie certainly would have known if that man that did pick up Sherry was George." She explained that Dollarhide had not seen the children "for over a year", but, later, as the interview progressed, said that Dollarhide had been in Portland within the last four months and had seen, not only the children, but also the defendant and Mrs. Sing.
The defendant's mother, Mrs. Sing, was employed in a Portland store. On January 23 the mother and the defendant's stepfather reached home at about 6:00 p.m. At that moment the defendant was upon the porch talking to a police officer. According to Mrs. Sing, the defendant "was kind of hysterical" and her hair "was hanging down like she was wet, and Vickie looked like she was wet too." She wore a coat. Sing also noticed the defendant's hair and, as a witness, described it as "all stringy, so wet. * * * both her and the girl was soaking wet." One of the police officers gave a similar account of the condition of the defendant's hair. The significance which the state attaches to the description just quoted will appear later. Presently the defendant told Mrs. Sing that "Sherry disappeared, that she was gone; she let her out to play and I don't know, all that." After the police officers had left and the defendant had accompanied her mother into the house the two had a conversation which the mother recounted in this way:
The events which we have so far mentioned occurred, so the witnesses swore, Wednesday, January 23.
Thursday, January 24, the police continued their investigation into the disappearance of Sherry. At about 9:30 a.m. J.H. Braley and Albert Eichenberger, both officers in the police department, accompanied by two members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, called upon the defendant. Braley testified that Eichenberger and the two federal officers questioned her about the purported disappearance of Sherry and that while the questioning was in progress he played with Vickie. We now quote:
Presently the defendant directed her attention to Vickie, so Braley swore, and said, "Vickie, don't talk to that man any more." Eichenberger, referring to the same incident, testified:
William D. Browne, chief of detectives of the Portland Bureau of Police, also spoke to the defendant on the day following the purported kidnaping, that is, on the 24th. Although the defendant had told officers Lippold and Nolan the preceding evening that she did not suspect George Dollarhide, father of the children, she made contrary statements to Browne. Dollarhide had a sister who had displayed an interest in the children. According to Browne, the defendant told him: "It must have been them, Dollarhide and his sister in Los Angeles." At that point Browne communicated with the police of Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities in an effort to locate the Dollarhides. Through the San Francisco police he was informed that Dollarhide had donated a pint of blood to the Red Cross on the afternoon of the purported kidnaping. The Los Angeles police reported that Dollarhide's sister was living in that city and that she was in Los Angeles on the day of the disappearance. Upon receipt of that information, Browne spoke to the defendant. The following is taken from his testimony:
*309 Shortly after that conversation Browne sent for the defendant. We again quote from his testimony:
Joseph H. Blewitt, a member of the police department's homicide detail, interviewed the defendant January 24. Blewitt was accompanied by other members of the department, including one Robert McKeown. The questioning occurred in one of the offices of the bureau and commenced at 5:00 p.m. In its course the defendant stated, so Blewitt swore, that on January 23, at 5:30 p.m., Vickie came to her with a report that "an old gray-haired man with coveralls, driving an old dark sedan, had taken Sherry away." Evidently Blewitt and McKeown doubted the defendant's story, for they plied her for details. According to Blewitt, she replied that "she knew nothing further." After a recess the session resumed at 9:00 p.m. The officers had decided to accuse the defendant of having brought about the death of Sherry. When they made the accusation they met with a denial. Next, a new tack was taken which McKeown described in this way:
After further questioning in similar vein, accompanied by admonitions to the defendant that she ought not permit the body of her daughter to remain unburied, the defendant told the officers, according to the testimony of both, that she would take them to the place where Sherry's body lay. The hour was 11:30 p.m. The two officers, accompanied by the defendant and a member of the Women's Protective Division, thereupon entered a police car and, obedient to the directions of the defendant, drove to the East Side plant of the Portland Gas & Coke Company, which is located a few blocks from the defendant's home. Upon reaching the plant, the party entered on foot an area occupied by large storage tanks. Eventually the defendant came upon a large covered sump and, pointing to it, said, "There she is." When the lid was removed and a flashlight was turned into the dark pit Sherry's body was seen floating in water at the bottom of the pit. Evidence which the jury could reasonably believe indicated that death had occurred about 48 hours previously. After the defendant had shown the officers the body, she and they went to the defendant's home. Then the coroner removed the body from the sump.
In the automobile on the way to her home, the defendant, according to Blewitt's testimony, said that after she returned home from the taxicab ride on January 23 she noticed Vickie standing in the kitchen and
The defendant told the officers that she believed that Vickie had caused Sherry's death and that she did not want her to be arrested. Blewitt, going on with the account which he said the defendant gave, partly in the car, partly in the defendant's home and the remainder in the police station, continued as follows:
Officer McKeown, in relating the account which the defendant gave on the trip from the gas works to her home and from there to the police station, testified that, according to it, Vickie "had a funny expression, the way she put it, on the face, and she asked her what was the matter and the little girl said she was afraid to tell her." It was at that point that Vickie, according to the account, said that the children had been playing soldier and that "the soldier had hit Sherry." Then, according to the account, the defendant coached Vickie "into telling the kidnap story and of even taking her *312 outside and showing her a gray-haired man that was getting into an automobile and telling her that was the man that's got Sherry."
After the officers had remained in the defendant's home for about 20 minutes and had taken notice of the staircase, the party returned to the police station where the officers continued their questioning of the defendant. One of them explained to her that they thought that she "was shielding someone else and we didn't want her to suffer for a crime that she hadn't actually committed." Before long the defendant expressed a wish to make a written statement. At that point a stenographer was called and while the defendant spoke, the stenographer typed her words. The defendant signed the statement. A copy of it follows:
After the defendant had signed the typed statement, the officers told her that they did not believe that a woman of her small size could have carried for the required distance a body weighing more than 30 pounds and asked her whether "a boy friend had helped her." According to the officers' testimony, the defendant answered by attributing the death to Mr. Sing. McKeown, in giving her answer, spoke as follows:
After the defendant had made that explanation, the officers confronted her with Mr. Sing. At that juncture she declined to repeat the statement which accused him of Sherry's death. Both at that time and also as a witness, Sing denied any knowledge of the manner in which Sherry had come to her death.
The witnesses whom we have mentioned met with no express contradiction and, so far as we can observe, the jury could reasonably have believed them. The only other testimony which is sufficiently material to the assignments of error to warrant a review came from Dr. Howard L. Richardson, a witness for the state, and from Drs. Normal L. Bline, Kenneth Livingston, Charles M. Grossman and Jeff Minckler, witnesses for the defendant.
Dr. Bline is a specialist in radiology. After being shown X-ray photographs of the skull of the deceased, he testified that they showed a fracture "extending across the parietal bone" above the right ear. He expressed a belief that the fracture "could possibly" have occurred during the autopsy. Dr. Richardson later swore that he produced the fracture in performing the autopsy and showed how he had done it.
The brief submitted to this court by the defendant's counsel says:
The state and the defendant disagree as to the agency which shut off the child's access to air. The state *316 claims that the agency was the hand of the defendant clapped tightly over Sherry's nose and mouth. Dr. Grossman agreed that "if the hand is placed in the proper way it can cause obstruction to the air passage." The defendant claims that asphyxiation came about in this way: a blow upon her head rendered the child unconscious. Thereupon a regurgitation of food occurred which filled the air passage. In the meantime, through involuntary action, the glottis closed. The closure of the latter may have been induced, according to the defendant's theory, by stomach acids which came into contact with the glottis when the regurgitation occurred.
Dr. Richardson gave testimony in support of the state's theory. Drs. Livingston, Grossman and Minckler supported the defendant's theory. Drs. Livingston and Grossman did not see Sherry's remains. Dr. Minckler made a cursory examination of them but not until after the autopsy. He did not depend upon what he had seen when he gave his testimony. The deductions drawn by Drs. Livingston, Grossman and Minckler were based upon facts disclosed by Dr. Richardson's autopsy and their medical knowledge.
January 26, 1952, Dr. Richardson performed the autopsy. It was evidently thorough, for in its course he removed and examined all of Sherry's organs. He even cut the skull from the body and examined the brain tissues for the purpose of ascertaining whether any hemorrhage had occurred. Before making the autopsy, Dr. Richardson took photographs of the body, not only by the usual process which yields photographs in black and white, but also by color photography which produces slides that are projected, life size, upon a screen. All of the photographs became exhibits and the colored ones were used for the purpose of showing the discolorations upon Sherry's face.
*317 Dr. Richardson found an area over the left ear of the deceased, about two inches in diameter, which he termed a hematoma. The fracture in the skull which Dr. Bline mentioned, and which Dr. Richardson swore was caused during the performance of the autopsy, was upon the right side of the skull. The hematoma occurred before death. It was a swelling under the scalp about two inches around and somewhat less than a half inch in thickness. In layman's language, it was a welt or bump. No witness knew its cause. However, Dr. Richardson stated that it could have resulted from a fall or a blow. He did not believe that it was caused by any of the cement blocks in the basement of the Sing house because, according to him, the sharp edges of a block of cement would have pulled out some of the hair and would have made a laceration in the scalp. Dr. Richardson examined the brain structure for the purpose of determining whether there was any evidence of hemorrhage. He found none. He did not know whether the blow which caused the hematoma could have rendered the child unconscious.
Dr. Richardson described in detail the discolorations upon the cheeks, the chin and across the bridge of the nose. He believed that they occurred before death. They displayed, so he said, a definite contour, circular in form, and could have been made by a hand held tightly over the nose and mouth.
Dr. Richardson's autopsy disclosed no evidence of water or algae in the lungs. As we have said, it is agreed that the cause of death was asphyxiation. The evidence just mentioned not only shows that drowning was not the cause of death, but it also establishes that Sherry did not breathe after her body was cast into the water at the bottom of the sump.
Dr. Richardson found no bruises upon the back, chest, arms, legs, knees, elbows, torso or abdomen of *318 the body. The heart, according to him, was "tremendously dilated" and there were excessive quantities of blood in the liver, spleen and lower organs. He explained the dilation of the heart by saying that it was filled with blood which it was unable to pump through the pulmonary circulation. The liver and spleen are secondary reservoirs of blood, so he explained, and when the heart is unable to force the blood on its way it backs into those reservoirs.
The examination made by Dr. Richardson of the remains disclosed, in addition to the foregoing, the following: (1) vomitus which filled the nose and mouth; (2) a few particles of food in the trachea; (3) no particles whatever of food in the bronchi; (4) a ballooning of the lungs; and (5) a swelling of the glottis which constricted it to a passageway the size of a lead pencil's point.
The following states Dr. Richardson's belief of the manner in which death occurred; in giving it he employed charts:
Dr. Richardson, in the above way, expressed his belief that the little child's air passages were completely blocked by an outside force. In speaking of an outside force, he had in mind a hand held tightly over the child's nose and mouth.
We have mentioned the fact that when the body was recovered it was found that the mouth and nose were filled with food partially digested. The witnesses called that matter vomitus. Dr. Richardson explained its presence by saying:
It will be recalled that no particles of food were found in the bronchi or lungs. Dr. Richardson, as we have seen, swore that if an outside force had not closed the *321 air passages, food particles would have been "sucked back into the lungs." That is, the inhaled air would have carried them along the passages leading to the lungs. He accounted for the presence of the few particles in the trachea by saying that the movements to which the body was subjected after death may have forced them into that organ. It will be recalled that the glottis was not completely closed.
Dr. Richardson also testified:
Dr. Richardson swore that the amount of time required to produce death in the manner which he described varies with individuals. In many it might require about five minutes. We see from his testimony that he believed that a hand clapped tightly over the nose and mouth of the child could have shut off effectively her air supply. When that occurred, food would shortly belch up into the nose and mouth, but, since no air was passing into the lungs, none of the vomitus would make its way downward. In that way *322 he accounted for the absence of food particles in the bronchi. He thought that the partial closure of the glottis was possibly a "spasm of death."
We shall now portray more fully the defendant's explanation of the manner in which the asphyxiation occurred. The following, taken from the defendant's brief, introduces the defendant's theory:
Dr. Livingston testified that the blow which caused the hematoma "could have" produced unconsciousness, but, in the absence of additional facts, was unable to say whether or not it actually did so. He said:
We quote further from his testimony:
Dr. Grossman testified that the hematoma indicated that the child had received a blow sufficiently *323 severe to have caused unconsciousness. We quote from his testimony:
According to Dr. Grossman, the digestive fluids are acid and when the latter comes in contact with the glottis it causes it to close. Such was the defendant's explanation for the asphyxiation.
*324 The following is taken from Dr. Grossman's cross-examination:
The above suffices as a narrative of the evidence governing the first assignment of error. We have omitted mention of many witnesses and details.
The defendant argues that the explanation for the death which her witnesses offered is at least as reasonable as that given by the state's witnesses and that, therefore, the state has not discharged the burden of proof. For the reasons which follow, we believe that the jury could reasonably have found that the explanation given by the state's witnesses was more acceptable than that which came from the defendant: (1) Dr. Livingston could not say that the hematoma indicated a blow to the head sufficiently severe to have caused unconsciousness; (2) there was no evidence that the child drowned in its own fluids, which, according to Dr. Richardson, is generally the manner of death when a blow to the head has caused unconsciousness succeeded by regurgitation; (3) the defendant's witnesses did not account for the discoloration upon the cheeks, under the chin and across the nose. In making that statement we have not overlooked the defendant's contentions that Dr. Richardson did not make a microscopic examination for the purpose of determining whether the discolorations may have occurred after death. We think, however, that the jury could reasonably have found that the discolorations occurred prior to death. (4) Dr. Grossman acknowledged that upon death the mouth generally drops open and that thereby the contents of the mouth flow *326 out. No explanation was given as to how it happened that the vomitus remained in Sherry's mouth if a blow to the head rendered her unconscious and induced regurgitation.
From the foregoing we see that the defendant and Sherry were together in the period which is vital, 3:00 to about 5:45 p.m., January 23. Possibly we can determine the hour when death struck. As we have noticed, the defendant, at 5:40 p.m. told two police officers, who called upon her pursuant to the radio message, that Sherry had disappeared about 15 minutes previously. In the typewritten statement which the defendant signed she acknowledged that it was she who had summoned police aid. If her explanations in regard to time are accepted as truthful, the death occurred not later than 5:25 p.m. Since it was necessary for her to have made the round trip between her home and the sump, death must have occurred much earlier than 5:25. From 3:00 to 5:40 p.m. only four persons, so far as the record discloses, were in Sherry's presence  the defendant, Mr. Sing, Vickie and the taxicab driver. We shall now determine whether the jury could reasonably have believed that any one of the last three caused the death. Sherry was alive when the driver departed, and no one contends that he returned or committed the crime. If the jury accepted Dr. Richardson's explanation of the manner in which the asphyxiation was effected, they could not reasonably have believed that it was the hand of Vicki, a four-year-old child, which clamped itself for five minutes over the cheeks, nose, mouth and chin of the deceased, bruised those areas and shut off the air passages. Sing left his home shortly after 3:15 p.m. while Sherry was still alive and did not return until 6:00 p.m. when he and the defendant's mother entered the house. *327 Hence, if Dr. Richardson's theory was accepted by the jury, the defendant was the only person present at the vital period who could have committed the felonious act. It will be recalled that shortly after the defendant signed her statement she told the police officers that it was not Vickie, but Sing, who caused the death. In attributing guilt to Sing, the defendant stated that she knelt down alongside Sherry's inert body and discovered the absence of breathing. According to further statements which she then made, she put Sherry's boots and mittens upon the lifeless limbs and saw Sing depart as he went out to discard the body. That explanation, of course, indicated that the defendant was present when death struck. Accordingly, the jury was warranted in finding that the defendant was with her child at the crucial moment. When the police officers called at about 5:40 p.m. and when, a few minutes later, the Sings came home, it was noticed that the defendant's and Vickie's hair was wet and that they showed other signs of having been out in the weather. Those circumstances could have been accepted by the jury as proof that the defendant had just returned from her grim mission. The defendant's own declarations acknowledged that it was her hands which cast the lifeless body into the sump. When the defendant took the officers to the sump, the cover over the latter was in place and had to be removed before the body could be seen.
The above makes it clear that the jury was justified in finding that the defendant was present when death struck and that it was she who disposed of the remains.
The defendant gave various explanations as to the manner in which her daughter came to her death. Since she was present, she had firsthand information upon *328 the subject. Let us consider the explanation given in the typewritten statement. It says that Sherry "got hit by the soldier" in the basement of the home. "Soldier" was a game which the two children had occasionally played. By making that statement and others in similar vein, the defendant evidently wished to create the impression that while the children were playing soldier Vickie struck Sherry on the head and thereby caused the death. It is clear that when Sherry's body was recovered from the sump, the nose and mouth were filled with vomitus. The defendant's medical experts, as we have seen, testified that when a child is rendered unconscious by a blow to the head regurgitation generally occurs. In the typewritten statement, as well as in her oral declarations, the defendant never mentioned vomitus. If Sherry suffered a fatal blow to her head while playing in the basement and if death occurred in the manner suggested by the defendant's expert witnesses, and not in the way described by Dr. Richardson, regurgitation must have occurred in the basement. Otherwise we have no explanation for the vomitus which filled the mouth and nose of the corpse. If Sherry became unconscious in the basement and if regurgitation there occurred, no one has explained how the vomitus remained in the mouth and nasal passages. It will be recalled that the defendant claims that after she discovered that Sherry was dead she rolled her body down the stairs five times. Dr. Grossman swore that when death occurs the mouth generally falls open. According to other statements which the defendant made, she picked up Sherry's lifeless body after she had rolled it down the stairs, flung it over her shoulder and carried it to the distant gas company plant. No explanation has been ventured as to how the vomitus could have remained in the *329 mouth and nose of the child while that course was being pursued.
Without resort to further analysis, we express the belief that the jury could reasonably have found that the defendant's statements, whether they attributed guilt to Vickie or to Sing, were virtually refuted by parts of the testimony of her own three medical experts.
The circumstances so far reviewed could reasonably have persuaded the jury to believe that (1) death did not come in the way suggested by the defendant's three medical experts; (2) Sherry's life was taken in the manner which Dr. Richardson explained; (3) the defendant cast the corpse into the covered sump for the purpose of concealing evidence of a crime. But the evidence so far analyzed does not single out the defendant's hand and identify it as the one which snuffed out her daughter's life. We shall now analyze another segment of the evidence.
There is a material difference between the guilty and the innocent when a crime has been committed in secrecy. The innocent have no consciousness of guilt and have nothing to conceal. The perpetrator of the crime, upon the other hand, generally has a consciousness of guilt and is in possession of information which he knows the law enforcement agencies seek. He holds a secret which he must guard, for if he divulges an inkling of it the consequences to him will be grievous. His consciousness of guilt engenders fear of apprehension and of the consequences which will ensue if his guilt is discovered. A consciousness of that kind influences conduct as surely as does any other motivating force. One with a consciousness of guilt who wishes to escape detection must become an actor and endeavor to play the part of the innocent. If he cannot successfully play the part, he may create suspicion by *330 speaking when the innocent would have remained silent, or he may maintain silence when the innocent would have spoken. In lieu of trying to play the difficult character of the innocent, the guilty may resort to flight or even to suicide. Or he may accompany his efforts at essaying the role of the innocent by giving false explanations or the destruction, concealment and fabrication of evidence.
Let us now see whether or not the defendant's conduct, as revealed by the evidence which we have reviewed, manifested upon her part a consciousness of guilt. She evidently chose the dark, deep, covered sump as Sherry's humble sepulcher out of a belief that if her daughter's body was cast into it discovery would be unlikely. Thus, at the very outset, she resorted to the concealment of evidence. She must have known when she cast the body into that place that if it ever was discovered, and if the fact came to light that she was the person who had thrown it there, a surmise would arise that she took the course in order to dissemble a homicide and the manner in which it had been effected. After she had disposed of the body, the defendant manifestly convinced herself that she would be called upon by someone to account for Sherry's absence. The course which she chose to fend off inquiries was to undertake to deceive the police and all others into a belief that a kidnaping had occurred and that Sherry was in the possession of "an old gray-haired man." If the deception proved successful, a search would be made for the purported kidnaper and not for the body. In order to render her deceit more effective, the defendant enlisted the aid of Vickie and coached the little girl into the part which she was expected to play. When the defendant saw that the police officers accepted as truthful her *331 falsehoods, she ventured to play still further the part of the innocent and so she accompanied the officers while they searched the neighborhood for Sherry, although she knew that the search was in vain. At the outset, as we have seen, she sought to fasten guilt upon the anonymous old gray-haired man. A few hours after the defendant had summoned the police, a development, which she deemed fortuitous, occurred. The officers asked her for the name of the children's father and when she gave the information she discovered that they might be willing to believe that the father and his sister had taken the child. Thereupon she summoned to her aid further deception. Although she knew that Sherry was dead, she encouraged the officers to extend their search into distant cities for Mr. Dollarhide and his sister. The search soon located the Dollarhides, and when that fact was reported to the defendant she tried to play further the part of the innocent. She inquired whether the Dollarhides had her child. In the meantime, the officers, with the defendant's support, were tracking down gray-haired men and persons who in recent months had molested children. Possibly when the defendant sent for the police she did not perceive the problems which would confront her. Officers, both municipal and federal, came in relays and the different groups asked her questions. They even sought to elicit information from Vickie whom she had coached to give a false account of Sherry's disappearance. When the defendant observed that the officers were winning Vickie's friendship, she became distrustful of the ability of her little daughter to play a false role. She thereupon reproached the officers and told Vickie to stay away from them. In that way she resorted to suppression of evidence. Before long the defendant inferred that *332 the officers were manifesting misgivings about the story which she had told them. Next, two of the officers decided to become her accusers. It was at this point that she led a detail of the police to Sherry's dank vault. At that juncture a new explanation was put forth and this time the defendant lay the death at the feet of Vickie. When the officers disbelieved the new story and protested that the defendant could not have carried the body from her basement to the gas company's plant, still another story came forth. This time the defendant accused her stepfather of Sherry's death and claimed that it was he who disposed of the body.
From the above circumstances we see that the jury could have believed that the defendant, in trying to guard her secret, found it necessary to employ deceit and to resort, not only to the fabrication of evidence, but also to its suppression. Her conduct betokened a consciousness of her own guilt and pointed to her as the one who had shut off the air passages of Sherry, thereby asphyxiating the little girl. The contention, obliquely advanced, that the defendant adopted her course for the purpose of shielding Vickie clearly was not accepted by the jury. The latter had good reason for rejecting that contention. First, as we have seen, the tiny hand of Vickie could not have committed the crime. Next, after the defendant had signed the statement upon which the contention is based, she repudiated the accusation and turned upon Sing.
1. The defendant recognizes that evidence showing consciousness of guilt is admissible in cases of this kind. The rule is stated and copiously illustrated in Wigmore on Evidence, 3d ed, §§ 273 through 293. Examples of its application in this state are State v. Hansen, 195 Or 169, 244 P2d 990; State v. Broadhurst, *333 184 Or 178, 196 P2d 407; State v. Henderson, 182 Or 147, 184 P2d 392; State v. Clark, 99 Or 629, 196 P 360; and State v. Zullig, 97 Or 427, 190 P 580.
2, 3. The person who committed a crime usually knows the exact manner in which he perpetrated it. Therefore, when he manifests a sense of guilt in the days which follow the commission of his crime, his self-condemning behavior betrays the manner in which he committed the misdeed. From the fact that he displays a sense of guilt, the jury may reasonably infer that he is guilty. Wigmore on Evidence, 3d ed, § 173. And if the manner in which the crime was committed is known, his sense of guilt, when established, warrants a belief that he committed the crime in that manner. When, as in the present case, evidence shows that (1) the death was effected by the hand of some person which shut off the air passages, (2) the defendant was present when death occurred, and (3) immediately after the death the defendant manifested a consciousness of guilt, the jury was authorized to reason that it was the defendant's hand which asphyxiated her daughter.
4-6. We are in accord with the defendant's contentions that when the state depends upon circumstantial evidence, the latter must be satisfactory and inconsistent with any reasonable theory of innocense. We are satisfied that the evidence in this case meets that standard. The jury was not bound to accept as true any exculpatory matter contained in the statement which the defendant signed and which is quoted in a preceding paragraph. State v. Monk, 199 Or 165, 260 P2d 474, and State v. Ausplund, 86 Or 121, 167 P 1019. According to our belief, the jury was warranted in concluding that the hand of the defendant closed tightly Sherry's air passages until the little girl was asphyxiated. The first assignment of error lacks merit.
*334 7-9. Before considering the second assignment of error we shall move on to the third which attacks an instruction which was given to the jury upon the subject of consciousness of guilt. The exception which the defendant took to the instruction is manifested by the record in this way:
In challenging the instruction, the defendant's brief says:
This court has many times held that an exception such as that which the defendant saved by the quoted words is insufficient. In Smith v. Pacific Northwest Public Service Company, 146 Or 422, 29 P2d 819, it is said:
A recent holding to similar effect is Garrett v. Eugene Medical Center, 190 Or 117, 224 P2d 563. In Wilson v. State Industrial Accident Commission, 189 Or 114, 219 P2d 138, the decision of this court, written by the Chief Justice, said:
State v. Johnston, 143 Or 395, 22 P2d 879, which was based upon a charge of embezzlement, says:
In that case, this court held that an exception which challenged an instruction as "against the law" was insufficient. See, to the same effect, State v. Poole, 161 Or 481, 90 P2d 472.
10. Notwithstanding the insufficiency of the defendant's exception, we gave careful attention to the challenged instruction. Although we do not believe that the instruction is entirely perfect, yet it is not subject to the attack made upon it by the defendant. We dismiss this assignment of error as without merit.
11. The second assignment of error follows:
At that point the requested instruction incorporated within itself the exact phraseology of § 23-418, OCLA.
In support of the assignment of error, the defendant's brief says:
Although the record indicates that Sherry's death resulted from homicide, we have been unable to find anything therein which could have warranted the submission of instructions upon the subject of excusable *337 homicide. The decisions cited by the defendant do not hold that a trial judge must instruct upon excusable homicide, even in the absence of evidence indicating that the homicide was justifiable. In State v. Way, 120 Or 134, 249 P 1045, 251 P 761, which was reversed on the ground that the trial judge erroneously failed to instruct on excusable homicide, this court carefully pointed out that the record contained evidence capable of a reasonable belief that the defendant struck the fatal blow in self-defense. State v. Trent, 122 Or 444, 252 P 975, 259 P 893, held that, since the evidence did not suggest a defense of justifiable homicide, the trial judge properly declined to instruct upon the subject. We find no merit in this assignment of error.
The fourth assignment of error reads as follows:
Dr. Richardson, who expressed the challenged opinion, has had extensive experience in performing autopsies *338 and in making examinations for the purpose of determining, if possible, the means whereby death in homicide cases was effected. Before he expressed the above-quoted opinion he had described the manner in which he had performed the autopsy and the detailed examination which he had made of the bruises and discolorations.
The defendant claims that the subject matter of Dr. Richardson's opinion is not within the area of expert opinion and that a jury was as capable of forming a correct opinion upon the subject as he. Therefore, according to the defendant, Dr. Richardson's opinion was inadmissible and, since his challenged testimony was upon a vital issue, the error is reversible.
The cases cited by the defendant do not support her contentions. In State v. Barrett, 33 Or 194, 54 P 807, a police officer testified that, in his opinion, a body had been moved from the position and place where it fell after being shot. This court pointed out that the witness was not an expert on the subject of how men fall when they are shot, and indicated doubt whether the matter was a proper subject for expert testimony. In State v. Jennings, 48 Or 483, 87 P 524, 89 P 421, a witness gave his opinion as to the direction from which a bullet had been fired. The opinion was based upon the witness's inspection of the blood which was splattered around the corner of the room where the deceased was shot. The witness was not qualified as an expert. The record was silent as to the position of the body and the location of the blood stains. State v. Morris, 83 Or 429, 163 P 567, involved the testimony by a physician that the choking of the victim could not have been accidental. This was held not to be reversible error because, under the circumstances of that case, *339 the jury could not have reached a different result. It is worthy of note that the objection was made, not to his opinion that the marks on the deceased's throat were finger marks, but that the strangulation was not accidental.
12, 13. The question submitted to Dr. Richardson in this case is clearly distinguishable from the subjects of inquiry in the cited cases. We think that the causes of discolorations on a human body are not a matter of such common knowledge that a jury can correctly ascertain their probable cause. The character of the discoloration is a matter of expert knowledge. It might be a bruise, a broken blood vessel or post-mortem lividity. If it is determined to be a bruise, the nature of the force and instrument causing it is by no means self-evident. It may have been caused by a fist, the palm of the hand, a sharp instrument, a blunt instrument, something with a pliable surface or an instrument with a hard, jagged edge. Involved in the inquiry is something more than the symmetry of the markings. Anyone who undertook to answer the question submitted to Dr. Richardson would have to be able to determine the amount of force which was exerted. In the present instance, the amount of force was indicated to some extent by the ballooned lungs and the condition of the heart. We cannot say that the cause of a bruise is as well known to laymen as to an expert. It is our belief that a physician of the competence of Dr. Richardson, and who had conducted an intensive investigation for the purpose of ascertaining the manner in which death was caused, was qualified to answer the question propounded to him. Goldfoot v. Lofgren, 135 Or 533, 296 P 843; State v. McDaniel, 39 Or 161, 65 P 520; State v. Barton, 5 Wash 2d 234, 105 *340 P2d 63. We dismiss the fourth assignment of error as without merit.
14. The fifth assignment of error charges as follows:
Preceding paragraphs of this opinion review Mr. Lippold's testimony. He was the second of the many police officers who testified. While upon the witness stand he used no notes, but upon cross-examination it developed that "within the last couple of days" he had consulted notes which he had made. He explained, "There's some details I wanted to check on." The examination presently continued:
The testimony given by Lippold was only corroborative of that given by other officers who also testified without notes. They were not asked whether they possessed any notes or had refreshed their recollections.
In support of this assignment of error, the defendant depends in part upon § 4-707, OCLA (ORS 45.580), which says:
*341 The defendant concedes that the decisions of this court are adverse to her contention. State v. Magers, 36 Or 38, 58 P 892, and State v. Yee Guck, 99 Or 231, 195 P 363, held that a witness, who possesses an independent recollection of the events, cannot be required to produce a writing which he used to refresh his memory before entering the witness stand. It is advisable to take note of the fact that in those two cases, as in the one at bar, the witnesses had an independent recollection. Those two cases, therefore, were not concerned with records of past recollections. Wigmore on Evidence, 3d ed, § 762, note 4; see, also, 18 Or L Rev 136, which argues that § 4-707, OCLA, fails to distinguish between "past recollection recorded" and "present recollection revived."
The brief filed by the defendant calls our attention to Wigmore on Evidence, 3d ed, § 762, where it is stated:
A footnote, at page 315 of Deady, General Laws of Oregon, 1845-1864, says:
State v. Magers, supra, and State v. Yee Guck, supra, in reaching their conclusions, quoted extensively from *342 Greenleaf, the very fountainhead of § 4-707, OCLA, and then interpreted the latter in harmony with the rule espoused by Greenleaf. In view of that fact, we do not believe that we are at liberty to adopt the point of view advocated by Wigmore, although if we had the rule-making power we would find it hard to resist the merits of the rule which he advocates. Possibly those who have the rule-making power will consider Wigmore's suggestion. We find no merit in the fifth assignment of error.
The above disposes of all the contentions advanced by the defendant. Although we have considered all of the assignments of error, we have found no merit in any of them. The trial judge bestowed painstaking care upon every contention which the defendant presented. She had a fair trial and it was free from error. The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.