Court Opinion

ID: 9940143
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-13 17:14:43.974945+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:42:37.871158
License: Public Domain

The majority hold that "Baby Girl" Vogt, who, according to medical testimony, had reached the 35th week of development, *Page 640 
had a 96 percent chance of survival, and was "definitely" alive and viable at the time of her death, nevertheless was not a "human being" under California's homicide statutes. In my view, in so holding, the majority ignore significant common law precedents, frustrate the express intent of the Legislature, and defy reason, logic and common sense.
Penal Code section 187 defines murder as "the unlawful killing of a human being, with malice aforethought." Penal Code section192 defines manslaughter as "the unlawful killing of a human being, without malice." The majority pursue the meaning of the term "human being" down the ancient hallways of the common law, citing Coke, Blackstone and Hale to the effect that the slaying of a "quickened" (i.e. stirring in the womb) child constituted "a great misprision," but not murder. Although, as discussed below, I strongly disagree with the premise that the words of our penal statutes must be construed as of 1648 or 1765, nevertheless, there is much common law precedent which would support the view that a viable fetus such as Baby Girl Vogt is a human being under those statutes.
The majority cast a passing glance at the common law concept of quickening, but fail to explain the significance of that concept: At common law, the quickened fetus was considered to be a human being, a second life separate and apart from its mother. As stated by Blackstone, in the passage immediately preceding that portion quoted in the majority opinion (fn. 6), "Life is the immediate gift of God, a right inherent by nature in every individual; and it begins in contemplation of law as soon as aninfant is able to stir in the mother's womb." (Italics added; 1 Blackstone, Commentaries, p. 129; see Rex v. Anonymous (1811) 3 Campb. 73, 170 Eng.Reprint 1310, 1311-1312; State v.Cooper, 22 N.J.L. 52, 54-55.)
Modern scholars have confirmed this aspect of common law jurisprudence. As Means observes, "The common law itself prohibited abortion after quickening and hanging a pregnant felon after quickening, because the life of a second human being wouldthereby be taken, although it did not call the offense murder or manslaughter." (Italics added; Means, The Law of New YorkConcerning Abortion and the Status of the Foetus, 1664-1968: ACase of Cessation of Constitutionality (1968) 14 N.Y.L.F. 411, 504.)
This reasoning explains why the killing of a quickened child was considered "a great misprision," although the killing of an unquickened child was no crime at all at common law (Means,supra, at p. 420). Moreover, although the common law did not apply the labels of "murder" or "manslaughter" to the killing of a quickened fetus, it appears that at common law this "great misprision" was severely punished. As late as 1837, the wilful *Page 641 
aborting of a woman quick with child was punishable by death in England. (Lord Landsdowne's Act of 1828 (9 Geo. IV, c. 31; Lord Ellenborough's Act of 1803 (43 Geo. III, c. 58);1 see Means,supra, at p. 440, fn. 64.)
Thus, at common law, the killing of a quickened child was severely punished, since that child was considered to be a human being. The majority would have us assume that the Legislature in 1850 and 1872 simply overlooked this "great misprision" in codifying and classifying criminal offenses in California, or reduced that offense to the lesser offense of illegal abortion with its relatively lenient penalties (Pen. Code, § 274).2
In my view, we cannot assume that the Legislature intended a person such as defendant, charged with the malicious slaying of a fully viable child, to suffer only the mild penalties imposed upon common abortionists who, ordinarily, procure only the miscarriage of a nonviable fetus or embryo. (See Comment, Model Penal Code, § 207.11, p. 149 (Tent. Draft No. 9, 1959).) To do so would completely ignore the important common law distinction between the quickened and unquickened child.
Of course, I do not suggest that we should interpret the term "human being" in our homicide statutes in terms of the common law concept of quickening. At one time, that concept had a value in differentiating, as accurately as was then scientifically possible, between life and nonlife. The analogous concept of viability is clearly more satisfactory, for it has a well defined and medically determinable meaning denoting the ability of the fetus to live or survive apart from its mother.3
The majority opinion suggests that we are confined to common law concepts, and to the common law definition of murder or manslaughter. However, the Legislature, in Penal Code sections 187 and 192, has defined those offenses for us: homicide is the unlawful killing of a "human being." Those words need not be frozen in place as of any particular time, but must be fairly and reasonably interpreted by this court to promote justice and to carry out the evident purposes of the Legislature in adopting a homicide statute. Thus, Penal Code section 4, which was enacted in 1872 along with sections 187 and 192, provides: "The rule of the common law, that penal statutes are to be strictly construed, has no application to this code. *Page 642 
All its provisions are to be construed according to the fair import of their terms, with a view to effect its objects and to promote justice." (Accord, In re Cregler, 56 Cal.2d 308, 312 [14 Cal.Rptr. 289, 363 P.2d 305]; People v. Valentine,28 Cal.2d 121, 142 [169 P.2d 1]; In re Haines, 195 Cal. 605, 614, 621 [234 P. 883].)
As the majority opinion recognizes, "`In this state the common law is of no effect so far as the specification of what acts or conduct shall constitute a crime is concerned.'" (Ante, p. 632, quoting from People v. Whipple, 100 Cal.App. 261, 262 [279 P. 1008].) Instead, we must construe penal statutes in accordance with the "fair import" of their terms, rather than restrict those statutes to common law principles. As stated in Katz v.Walkinshaw, 141 Cal. 116, 122-123 [70 P. 663, 74 P. 766], "The idea that the doctrine . . . is a part of the common law adopted by our statute, and beyond the power of the court to change or modify, is founded upon a misconception of the extent to which the common law is adopted by such statutory provisions, and a failure to observe some of the rules and principles of the common law itself. . . . The true doctrine is, that the common law by its own principles adapts itself to varying conditions, and modifies its own rules so as to serve the ends of justice under the different circumstances, a principle adopted into our code by section 3510 of the Civil Code: `When the reason of a rule ceases, so should the rule itself.'"
Penal Code section 4, which abolishes the common law principle of the strict construction of penal statutes, embodies the doctrine of Katz v. Walkinshaw, supra, 141 Cal. 116, and permits this court fairly to construe the terms of those statutes to serve the ends of justice. Consequently, nothing should prevent this court from holding that Baby Girl Vogt was a human ("belonging or relating to man; characteristic of man")4
being ("existence, as opp. to nonexistence; specif. life")5
under California's homicide statutes.
We commonly conceive of human existence as a spectrum stretching from birth to death. However, if this court properly might expand the definition of "human being" at one end of that spectrum, we may do so at the other end. Consider the following example: All would agree that "Shooting or otherwise damaging a corpse is not homicide. . . ." (Perkins, Criminal Law (2d ed. 1969) ch. 2, § 1, p. 31.) In other words, a corpse is not considered to be a "human being" and thus cannot be the subject of a "killing" as those terms are used in homicide statutes. However, it is readily apparent that our concepts of what constitutes a "corpse" *Page 643 
have been and are being continually modified by advances in the field of medicine, including new techniques for life revival, restoration and resuscitation such as artificial respiration, open heart massage, transfusions, transplants and a variety of life-restoring stimulants, drugs and new surgical methods. Would this court ignore these developments and exonerate the killer of an apparently "drowned" child merely because that child would have been pronounced dead in 1648 or 1850? Obviously not. Whether a homicide occurred in that case would be determined by medical testimony regarding the capability of the child to have survived prior to the defendant's act. And that is precisely the test which this court should adopt in the instant case.
The common law reluctance to characterize the killing of a quickened fetus as a homicide was based solely upon a presumption that the fetus would have been born dead. (People v. Chavez,supra, 77 Cal.App.2d 621, 626; Atknson, Life, Birth andLivebirth, 20 L.Q.Rev. 134.) This presumption seems to have persisted in this country at least as late as 1876. (See State
v. Winthrop, 43 Iowa 519, 523.) Based upon the state of the medical art in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, that presumption may have been well-founded. However, as we approach the 21st century, it has become apparent that "This presumption is not only contrary to common experience and the ordinary course of nature, but it is contrary to the usual rule with respect to presumptions followed in this state." (People v. Chavez,supra, at p. 626; see Civ. Code, § 3546 [formerly Code Civ. Proc., § 1963, subd. 28]; cf. Health Saf. Code, § 25953, forbidding therapeutic abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy.)
There are no accurate statistics disclosing fetal death rates in "common law England," although the foregoing presumption of death indicates a significantly high death experience. On the other hand, in California the fetal death rate6 in 1968 is estimated to be 12 deaths in 1,000, a ratio which would have given Baby Girl Vogt a 98.8 percent chance of survival. (Cal. Statistical Abstract (1969) Table E-3, p. 65.) If, as I have contended, the term "human being" in our homicide statutes is a fluid concept to be defined in accordance with present conditions, then there can be no question that the term should include the fully viable fetus.
The majority suggest that to do so would improperly create some new offense. However, the offense of murder is no new offense. Contrary to the majority opinion, the Legislature has not "defined the crime of murder in California to apply only to the unlawful and malicious killing of one who has been born alive." (Ante, p. 632.) Instead, the Legislature simply uses the broad term "human being" and directed the courts to construe *Page 644 
that term according to its "fair import" with a view to effect the objects of the homicide statutes and promote justice. (Pen. Code, § 4.) What justice will be promoted, what objects effectuated, by construing "human being" as excluding Baby Girl Vogt and her unfortunate successors? Was defendant's brutal act of stomping her to death any less an act of homicide than the murder of a newly born baby? No one doubts that the term "human being" would include the elderly or dying persons whose potential for life has nearly lapsed; their proximity to death is deemed immaterial. There is no sound reason for denying the viable fetus, with its unbounded potential for life, the same status.
The majority also suggest that such an interpretation of our homicide statutes would deny defendant "fair warning" that his act was punishable as a crime. (Ante, p. 634.) Aside from the absurdity of the underlying premise that defendant consulted Coke, Blackstone or Hale before kicking Baby Girl Vogt to death, it is clear that defendant had adequate notice that his act could constitute homicide. Due process only precludes prosecution under a new statute insufficiently explicit regarding the specific conduct proscribed, or under a preexisting statute "by means of an unforeseeable judicial enlargement thereof." (Ante, p. 634.)
Our homicide statutes have been in effect in this state since 1850. The fact that the California courts have not been called upon to determine the precise question before us does not render "unforeseeable" a decision which determines that a viable fetus is a "human being" under those statutes. Can defendant really claim suprise that a 5-pound, 18-inch, 34-week-old, living, viable child is considered to be a human being?
The fact is that the foregoing construction of our homicide statutes easily could have been anticipated from strong dicta inPeople v. Chavez, supra, 77 Cal.App.2d 621, 625-626 (hg. den. by S.Ct.), wherein the court reviewed common law precedents but disapproved their requirement that the child be born alive and completely separated from its mother. The court in Chavez
held that a viable child killed during, but prior to completion of, the birth process, was a human being under the homicide statutes. However, the court did not hold that partial birth was a prerequisite, for the court expressly set forth its holding "Without drawing a line of distinction applicable to all cases. . . ." (77 Cal.App.2d at p. 627.) In dicta, the court discussed the question when an unborn infant becomes a human being under the homicide statutes, as follows: "There is not much change in the child itself between a moment before and a moment after its expulsion from the body of its mother, and normally, while still *Page 645 
dependent upon its mother, the child for some time before it is born, has not only the possibility but a strong probability of an ability to live an independent life. . . . While before birth or removal it is in a sense dependent upon its mother for life, there is another sense in which it has started an independent existence after it has reached a state of development where it is capable of living and where it will, in the normal course of nature and with ordinary care, continue to live and grow as a separate being. While it may not be possible to draw an exact line applicable to all cases, the rules of law should recognize and make some attempt to follow the natural and scientific facts to which they relate. . . . [I]t would be a mere fiction to hold that a child is not a human being because the process of birth has not been fully completed, when it has reached that state of viability when the destruction of the life of its mother would not end its existence and when, if separated from the mother naturally or by artificial means, it will live and grow in the normal manner." (77 Cal.App.2d at pp. 625-626.)
Thus the Chavez case explodes the majority's premise that a viability test for defining "human being" under our homicide statutes was unforeseeable; Chavez approved and advocated this interpretation 23 years ago. (See also Scott v. McPheeters,33 Cal.App.2d 629, 635 [92 P.2d 678, 93 P.2d 562] ["Who may say that such a viable child is not in fact a human being in actual existence?"].) I would conclude that defendant had sufficient notice that the words "human being" could include a viable fetus. As stated in People v. Victor, 62 Cal.2d 280, 299 [42 Cal.Rptr. 199, 398 P.2d 391], "Admittedly the word [`imminent'] is to some extent a relative one; but `the law is full of instances where a man's fate depends on his estimating rightly, that is, as the jury subsequently estimates it, some matter of degree.' [Citation.]"
In summary, I have shown that at common law, the slaying of a quickened fetus was a "great misprision" and was severely punished, since that fetus was considered to be a human being. We should not presume that the Legislature ignored these common law developments and intended to punish the malicious killing of a viable fetus as the lesser offense of illegal abortion. Moreover, apart from the common law approach, our Legislature has expressly directed us to construe the homicide statutes in accordance with the fair import of their terms. There is no good reason why a fully viable fetus should not be considered a "human being" under those statutes. To so construe them would not create any new offense, and would not deny defendant fair warning or due process since the Chavez case anticipated that construction long ago. *Page 646 
The trial court's denial of defendant's motion to set aside the information was proper, and the peremptory writ of prohibition should be denied.
Sullivan, J., concurred.
The petition of the real party in interest for a rehearing was denied September 10, 1970. Burke, J., and Sullivan, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.
1 These statutes are as much the "common law" of England as the subsequently decided English decisions cited by the majority. (People v. Baker, 69 Cal.2d 44, 48-49 [69 Cal.Rptr. 595,442 P.2d 675].)
2 Section 274, adopted in 1872, was based upon substantially identical language in 1850 Statutes, chapter 99, section 45, page 233. These sections imposed a prison term of from two to five years for procuring a miscarriage.
3 Schmidt, Attorneys' Dictionary of Medicine, 870; seePeople v. Chavez, 77 Cal.App.2d 621, 625-626 [176 P.2d 92].
4 Webster's New International Dictionary (2d ed. 1939), page 1211, column 3.
5 Ibid, at page 247, column 2.
6 I.e., fetal deaths of 20 weeks or more gestation. *Page 647