Opinion ID: 2234706
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: sufficiency of evidence regarding murder

Text: Castor finally argues that the evidence is insufficient to support her convictions for murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. She contends that the evidence points to her son Eddy as the murderer. She argues that Eddy had no alibi for the early evening hours of Friday, November 29, 1996, when the Petersens heard the three shots near their farm. As stated above, in reviewing a criminal conviction, an appellate court will affirm the conviction, absent prejudicial error, if the properly admitted evidence, viewed and construed most favorably to the State, is sufficient to support the conviction. State v. Quintana, 261 Neb. 38, 621 N.W.2d 121 (2001). Neb.Rev.Stat. § 28-303 (Reissue 1995) provides: A person commits murder in the first degree if he kills another person (1) purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice.... In discussing the sufficiency of the evidence, we will recount the evidence in the light most favorable to the State. The State presented evidence that Castor falsely reported a burglary on October 9, 1996, in order to cover up her later use of her .22 caliber Ruger revolver in the murder of Brown. Castor told the police that she thought the burglar somehow gained entry to the house, then exited through a 12 by 12 inch hole the burglar cut in the window of a second-floor bedroom, and then reentered through a similar hole in a screen on Castor's bedroom window. Castor's bedroom had been ransacked, but it was the only room in the house that was in such condition. The investigating officer said he suspected that the report was false because the only evidence of forced entry consisted in two small holes cut in the window screens in Castor's room and Guider's adjacent bedroom, both of which would have been too small for an adult to pass through. In addition, he also thought it suspicious that someone who was already inside the house would have gone outside the house in broad daylight to break into another room, as opposed to just breaking through the door to the room. There were also valuable items downstairs that were visible and yet were not taken, such as several long guns, a couple of VCR's, and several televisions. The State also presented evidence of Castor's possible motive for killing Brown. As stated above, Sperry, a friend of Brown's, testified that at some point in the weeks preceding Brown's murder, she had a conversation with Castor about Brown and his money in which Castor said she was angry with Brown because she knew Brown had a lot of money and was not generous with it. Also as discussed above, Lauby testified that Castor told her in the weeks before Brown's murder that she (Castor) hated Brown. Castor told Lauby that she came to Kearney only because she needed money and that Brown was going to pay her living expenses. She told Lauby that she was living off of Brown and wanted his money. In her conversations with Lauby, Castor usually referred to Brown as asshole or Mr. Asshole. Lauby said Castor was often upset with Brown and would say things like, I wish that son-of-a-bitch would die. The evidence shows that Castor also stood to profit from Brown's death. Brown had taken out an $18,000 life insurance policy which named Castor as the sole beneficiary. A cellmate of Castor's after the murder testified that Castor wondered aloud whether she would still be able to get the money from the life insurance policy. The State also offered evidence regarding the events of Thanksgiving week 1996 to show circumstantially that Castor had the motive and opportunity to kill Brown and that she did, in fact, kill Brown. As stated above, Brown's sister testified that on Tuesday, November 26, 1996, she called Brown on the telephone. She noticed he was agitated and got the impression that he and Castor had been fighting. This was the same day Brown learned of the Phillips 66 account Castor had opened in his name. Regarding Thanksgiving Day, it is undisputed that the only people at Brown's house that day were Eddy, Castor, and Brown. The three had dinner in the late afternoon. Eddy testified that when he went to bed, Castor and Brown were sitting in the living room watching television. Eddy also testified that whenever he stayed at Brown's house, he would always wear headphones in bed to drown out the sound of the passing trains. The State's theory is that sometime later that night, as Brown was sleeping on the sofa with his usual blanket in the living room, Castor shot him with her .22 caliber revolver, but that Eddy did not hear it because of his headphones. The blanket was never found. No one, other than Eddy and Castor, claims to have seen Brown alive after Thanksgiving Day. Eddy and Castor claim that Brown went shopping with them the next day at Brown's suggestion, even though Brown hated shopping. They first went to Wal-Mart, then to Target, then to a bank, and finally to K-mart. According to the receipts from the three stores, they made purchases at Wal-Mart at 8:31 a.m., at Target at 9:21 a.m., and at K-mart at 11:09 a.m. One of the items they bought at Target was a hinge hasp, which is the locking device that Eddy and Castor later installed on the basement door. At the bank, they deposited two $2,000 checks drawn on Brown's account, one written to Castor and one to Eddy. According to bank records, the deposit occurred at 10:25 a.m. Castor's version of events is somewhat different than what is reflected by the receipts. She said the three of them went to the three stores first, then to the bank, and then back to Brown's house. Castor's version also differs from Eddy's in regard to whether Brown was with them at the various stops they made that morning. Castor said that Brown was with them at all stops, whereas Eddy said that Brown accompanied them to Wal Mart, Target, and the bank, but not to K-mart. Castor said that when they arrived back at Brown's house between 10:30 and 11 a.m., Brown got out of the car and said, I'll be a son of a bitch,and then walked out toward a brown pickup truck with primer on it. Castor and Eddy both said Brown then got into the pickup truck and left, saying he was going to work on another truck. Castor said Brown was still upset when he left. At some point after Brown's alleged departure, Sperry came to Brown's house to pick up some cigarettes Brown had bought for her in Wyoming. While Sperry was there, Castor told Sperry of her plans to leave with Eddy the next day for Oregon and Nevada. She said that Brown had given her a couple thousand dollars to cover her traveling expenses. Sperry testified, however, that she was a good friend of Brown's and did not know of another occasion where Brown had given Castor money. Indeed, as stated above, she testified that it would have been out of character for Brown to give anyone $2,000. As we concluded above, the evidence is sufficient to show that Castor in fact forged these checks. The testimony regarding the timing of events during the afternoon of November 29, 1996, is in conflict. It is undisputed that at some point in the afternoon, Eddy and Castor installed the hinge hasp on the basement door. Eddy testified that the purpose was to keep the dogs from getting dirty in the basement. However, he also said that Brown had never asked him to get a hinge hasp, nor had Brown expressed concern over the dogs going downstairs. Thus, although Brown had not requested that a hasp be installed, Castor and Eddy nonetheless installed one, albeit the day before they were to permanently leave town. While Castor was at work the evening of November 29, 1996, Brown's nephew, Michalski, came to Castor's workplace looking for Brown. He and his family had planned to join Brown for Thanksgiving dinner but were unable to come to Kearney until November 29. They had just been to Brown's house but no one was home. Castor told him that Brown had been out drinking and left with someone in a brown pickup truck with primer on it. Michalski and several others, however, testified that Brown had actually given up drinking several years before his death. Castor got off work early that night around 11:50. Upon arriving home, she began loading her car with items for storage. A neighbor of Brown's testified that she saw Castor's car backed up to the door late that night. Eddy placed a telephone call to Oregon at 12:09 a.m. Castor made several trips to the storage place, finishing around 2:30 or 3 a.m. on Saturday. At that time, she and Eddy then drove to Grand Island, allegedly to pay some insufficient funds checks she had written. She said she did not wait until late that morning because she was worried she would oversleep. Castor and Eddy stayed at a motel for a few hours in Grand Island. They then went to a store and paid the amounts she owed. After paying these, they drove back to Kearney so they could load the cars to leave for Oregon and Nevada. The State's theory is that Castor and Eddy in fact took Brown's body out and dumped it during the early morning hours that day. They then went to Grand Island and disposed of the murder weapon, Brown's boots, and the blanket on which he had been sleeping when Castor shot him. Between 7 and 8 a.m. on Saturday, November 30, 1996, Michalski called Brown's house several times, but no one answered. He and his family drove to Brown's house around 9 or 9:30 a.m. When they arrived, Castor and Eddy were there, and Castor's stationwagon was backed up to the front door so they could load it and leave. Michalski helped them load the car. He said that Eddy seemed calm, but Castor was nervous, like she was in a hurry to leave. While Michalski was at Brown's residence, Tom, Jr., called and spoke with Castor. Michalski heard Castor tell Tom, Jr., that she would leave a note for Brown that Tom, Jr., needed some money. Michalski testified that when she hung up the telephone, Castor turned to Eddy and said that she did not know where Tom, Jr., was going to get his money now. After a few hours of helping Eddy and Castor pack, Michalski and his family left Brown's house, and Eddy and Castor then began their trip to Oregon and Nevada. Castor had previously planned to leave for Nevada a week later, but she said she decided to leave early because she had heard that a storm was coming and that she was concerned that Eddy had not driven in ice and snow before. Despite the purported concern about the storm and despite their hurry to leave, they traveled only from Kearney to North Platte that day. The next day (Sunday, December 1, 1996), they traveled to Idaho, and on Monday, they drove to Oregon. The State presented certain other evidence to support its theory. Dr. Jerry W. Jones, the pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified that in his opinion, the body was moved from somewhere else to its present location. He based this opinion on a number of factors. First, the lividity in the body, which is the settling of the blood after death in the lowest parts of the body, was relatively uniform on Brown's backside from head to heel. Jones testified that this indicates that when the lividity set in, the body was lying on a flat surface. Jones stated that the lividity in the body was not consistent with the incline on which the body was found. Second, the body was inappropriately dressed for that time of year. Brown was wearing no coat and was only wearing a T-shirt. Third, Brown was wearing no shoes, but his socks were not dirty, as they would have been if he had been walking around outside without shoes. Fourth, the sharp upward and downward angles of the bullets are not easily explained if Brown had been upright and alert when he was shot. Instead, they are more easily explained if he was in a supine position. Fifth, Jones found that for the holes in the shirt to match those in the body, the shirt would have to have been shifted over to the right. Jones testified that this would be consistent with what might happen when a person sleeps. Finally, Jones noted that there was not much blood at the scene where the body was found. If Brown had been shot there, there would have been much more blood, because, given that blood was entering the air passages, he would have been coughing up a large amount of blood. Based on these findings, Jones concluded that Brown was shot and killed, possibly while he was sleeping in a supine position, and was later moved to the location where his body was found. Jones also testified that these and other findings he made would be consistent with a time of death somewhere between November 27 and 30, 1996. A Nebraska State Patrol officer testified that based on the gunshot residues on Brown's shirt, he concluded that the gun was fired from not more than an arm's length away. He also examined the bullets extracted from Brown's body and testified that while the murder weapon had not been found, the bullets could have been fired from a .22 caliber Ruger revolver like the one Castor owned. An investigator for the Buffalo County Sheriff's Department testified that he searched Castor's car in Reno, Nevada, and found 13 unspent .22 caliber bullets (as well as a Phillips 66 card in Brown's name). The police were never able to find the murder weapon, Brown's work boots, and the blanket Brown always used when he slept on the sofa. The theory, as stated above, is that Castor and Eddy destroyed these items when they went to Grand Island in the middle of the night on Saturday, November 30, 1996. The defense attempted to contradict the State's theory by introducing testimony that shots were heard on November 29, 1996, in the vicinity of the scene where Brown's body was found. The State, however, introduced the testimony of Whicker, who conducted tests and determined that the sound of such gunshots, if fired from where the body was found, could not have been heard at the place where the Petersens said they heard shots. We conclude that the evidence regarding the first degree murder charge is sufficient that a jury could find beyond reasonable doubt that Castor is guilty of the charge. The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, shows that Castor hated Brown and tolerated him only because she needed his money. When he cut her off, her reason for tolerating him ceased. Indeed, given that Castor stood to benefit from Brown's life insurance policy, Brown became worth more to her dead than alive. Castor also had the opportunity to kill Brown, being alone with him Thanksgiving evening. The inconsistencies between Eddy's and Castor's accounts of the events of the next day, as well as their strange actions culminating in their trip to Oregon, also lend weight to the State's case. Perhaps most damning of all is her statement, after ending her telephone conversation with Tom, Jr., that she wondered where he would get his money now. We conclude that Castor's assignment of error regarding this issue is without merit. In regard to the charge for use of a weapon to commit a felony, we find the evidence sufficient that a jury could find beyond reasonable doubt that Castor committed the crime. Because the evidence is sufficient to support her murder conviction and because Brown was murdered with a gun, it follows that the evidence is sufficient to support her conviction of use of a weapon to commit a felony.