Opinion ID: 2347659
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Sufficiency of the Evidence to Support the Defendant's Verdict of Guilty

Text: At the close of the State's case the defendant moved for an acquittal. The motion was denied. As the defendant then proceeded to present witnesses in defense after the Justice's denial of this motion, appellate review of the denial of this motion was waived. State v. Heald, Me., 333 A.2d 696 (1975); Glassman, Maine Practice, §§ 29.2, 29.6. The defendant did not take the stand at trial. The defendant renewed his motion at the completion of all evidence, thus presenting for appellate review the question of whether the evidence in its totality warranted the jury's believing beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty as charged. State v. York, Me., 324 A.2d 758, 769 (1974). The jury could have found: The elderly victim, who had some cardiac insufficiency and a hip impairment, had for several years been the collector of rent money in the apartment where she lived. The defendant had occupied an apartment in that building for several months ending some eight months before and had on some occasions paid his rent to her. She was killed at about midnight of May 31, 1971, by violent strangulation after receiving a severe beating which fractured three ribs, broke her jaw, and left multiple bruises and abrasions on her face and body. The autopsy revealed fluid blood in the vagina and a hemorrhagic and bruised area on the inside of the vagina. Her body was found lying on its back with her nightgown pulled up around the shoulders and her arms outstretched. A broken candle was found on a chair in the room and there was a small piece of human tissue on one of the pieces. Several small pieces of the candle were found between the victim's legs. These last gruesome details need to be considered because of their significance in relation to a latent right palm print which was found on the polished floor between the victim's head and her left shoulder. Testimony showed the victim to have been a person who kept her apartment neat and immaculate, cleaning her rooms frequently in spite of her afflictions. No other latent prints were found on the hard surfaces of the apartmenteven those of the victim except a few on the door casing, and the only one of these which was identified was that of an investigating officer. The position of the palm print in relation to the body was such as to permit the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the print was made by a person who was then astride or beside the victim and that that person was the murderer. A qualified technician from the Federal Bureau of Investigation compared this latent print with prints known to have been made by the defendant and testified that they were made by one and the same person. Some nineteen hours after the murder, a police officer interviewed the defendant and observed what appeared to be fresh scratches on the back of his hands and in one place a piece of skin appeared to have been removed. (There had been dried blood found under the victim's fingernails.) There were also fresh abrasions on the underside of both of defendant's arms, at the elbows, which were described as mat burns or floor burns. The defendant had been unable to account for their presence or for the missing piece of skin from his hand. A friend who had spent two and a half hours with the defendant (who had been wearing a short sleeved shirt) in a Bangor bar earlier on the evening of the murder, playing bumper pool and otherwise socializing, had not observed such marks on the defendant's hands or elbows then. The defendant had denied having been in Bangor that evening. Later testimony proved this to be false, but that he had returned to his home in East Holden about an hour and fifteen minutes before the murder. He was, however, still only some fifteen minutes travel time from the scene of the crime. About two weeks after the murder, the defendant, in answer to a question, told his friend he had killed Miss Dunn. When the friend showed surprise the defendant denied the murder. The friend said he had thought it was a joke. The evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict.