Court Opinion

ID: 9713535
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:16:59.994139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:19.175818
License: Public Domain

Clinton, J.,
concurring in the result.
I concur in the result. Most of the discussion about brain death is wholly unnecessary. The time of death of the victim is not an issue in this case. The proof was that the victim was dead by any standard when the charge was filed. The only issue other than defendant’s criminal culpability was whether her death was caused by the act of the defendant or by withdrawal of the support system. The ordinary instruction on intervening cause would have sufficed. The undisputed testimony is that defendant’s acts and not the withdrawal of the support system were the cause of death. The giving of instruction No. 10 was harmless error. The discussion in State v. Harris, 194 Neb. 74, 230 N.W.2d 203 (1975), and State v. Johnson, 60 Ohio App. 2d 45, 395 N.E.2d 368 (1977), cited in the court’s opinion, adequately disposes of the defendant’s arguments. There is no need, in cases of this type, to be concerned with the issue of brain death unless the State begins to prosecute for homicide while the victim is still on the life support system.
White, J., joins in this concurrence.