Opinion ID: 852990
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Proof of Corpus Delicti and General Sufficiency

Text: Finally, Malinski insists that the State failed to prove corpus delicti and produced insufficient evidence to support his convictions. Our corpus delicti rule holds that a crime may not be proven based solely on a confession. Sweeney v. State, 704 N.E.2d 86 (Ind.1998). Admission of a confession requires some independent evidence of the crime including evidence of the specific kind of injury and evidence that the injury was caused by criminal conduct. Workman v. State, 716 N.E.2d 445, 447 (Ind.1999). This evidence need not prove that a crime was committed beyond a reasonable doubt, but merely `provide an inference that a crime was committed,'... `an inference that may be established by circumstantial evidence.' Id. at 447-48. Of course, this is not a confession case. In fact, Malinski maintained his innocence at all times. Thus, the question is whether the evidence is sufficient to allow a jury to find that Lori is dead and that Malinski killed her. The evidence shows that on July 21, 1999, a neighbor saw an unknown person enter the Kirkley residence, that Lori later came home, and that a short time later her Ford Explorer left the residence. Lori has not been seen since. Police found her blood spattered in the kitchen and on a butter knife. They also found her eyeglasses broken. Lori's eyewear and her daily medication were left behind. Her prescriptions had not been refilled. Such evidence provides an inference that a crime was committed, that is, that Lori was abducted and murdered. Then there is the dumpster note. It states that Lori was killed and that the body would never be found. The note was produced on a computer near Malinski's desk at his place of employment, and Malinski admitted leaving the note at the dumpster. The note said the victim bit off the tip of the murderer's finger, and dental examination of an injury to Malinski's finger confirmed a human bite, although the tip was not completely bitten off. The bite mark on Malinski's finger and the injuries observed by his coworkers, together with his false explanation that he sustained the injuries helping his brother, all supply an inference that he murdered Lori, and sustained injuries during her attempts to defend herself. Other evidence corroborated the dumpster note. In his second statement, Malinski told police that Lori's blood was in his house. One bloodstain from Malinski's bedroom carpet was determined to be human blood. It appeared the stain had been washed. The Polaroids also suggest that Lori was murdered and that Malinski was the person who killed her. In those pictures, Lori is partially nude, handcuffed, and has her legs tied up. The expert testimony of Dr. Prahlow was that the photos demonstrate that Lori was an unwilling participant and that she appeared to be incapacitated, unconscious, or dead in the pictures. There is also the cellmate's testimony that Malinski asked him to destroy some pictures of Lori when he got out of jail because they were bad photos and he would get in trouble if anybody saw them. Malinski told him that they showed Lori in handcuffs. If believed, the note and the circumstantial evidence were sufficient to convict Malinski of murder. Malinski says he provided an innocent explanation for Lori's disappearancethat Lori and he planned to run away together, but that she ultimately left on her own because Malinski had a change of heart. The jury was not required to believe Malinski's account of the events. Malinski further argues that there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions because the body of the alleged victim has never been recovered. But production of the victim's body is not required in a murder prosecution if circumstantial evidence shows that death did occur. Campbell v. State, 500 N.E.2d 174, 179 (Ind.1986). There was ample evidence from which the jury could determine that Lori had in fact been killed. The circumstantial evidence was adequate to allow a jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Malinski murdered Lori Kirkley.