Court Opinion

ID: 9740016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:25:46.065526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:15.414672
License: Public Domain

Dissent
Myers, J.
I cannot agree with the majority opinion’s conclusion that there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could have reasonably inferred that Kenneth D. Spidel did not himself fire the pistol and thus uphold the jury’s verdict that he died by some other method than suicide.
There was evidence that the gun was held close to Spidel’s temple and that the shot was fired accordingly. Spidel had previously gotten “blind” drunk the night before, had gotten up at 5:30 a.m. on August 4th and obtained from witness Hedrick a sheet of paper, a pen and a large business-type air mail-envelope. The envelope which was found on his chest containing the suicide note was the same type. Spidel had said he was in serious trouble and might go AWOL and was afraid of an undesirable discharge by the Army. Apparently, by around 6:00 o’clock, he had shaved and dressed and was almost serene in his manner as though he had found a solution to his problem. At 6:20 a.m. he *467was dead from the shot. Previously, he had obtained a .45-caliber pistol without signing for it.
Witness Register testified that he was in the process of shaving, across the hall from Spidel’s room. At 6:15 he heard a shot, and, upon going out into the hall, found the expended bullet which had gone through the door, falling on the floor in the hall. He kicked open the door to Spidel’s room and found him lying in bed, still alive, with the pistol on his throat and the note on his chest. It was witness Hedrick who came up immediately thereafter and took the pistol off Spidel’s throat and put it on a footlocker, together with the spent bullet.
This action in itself would have obliterated any finger prints on the pistol, including those of Spidel or some one else. This was factual evidence which was not disputed. The actions on the part of Spidel, plus the contents of the note, all of which are undisputed, are circumstantial evidence indicating suicide. There was absolutely no evidence that there was any one in the vicinity who entered Spidel’s room and shot him. “If one side is supported by evidence, and the other is not, that side which is unsupported must fail.” Sovereign Camp, etc. v. Haller (1900), 24 Ind. App. 108, 114, 56 N. E. 255, 257. From what appeared in the record, it was only pure speculation and guess-work, not based upon the factual evidence, which could have led the jury to believe that Spidel had not committed suicide.
The evidence upon which appellees rely was opinion evidence. It was based upon hypothetical questions placed to an expert in the field of firearms. He was not at the scene at the time of the shooting. He stated on voir dire examination that he had never seen a person after he had been shot in the head by a .45-caliber pistol, nor had he seen what reactions such a person would have had if he had been shot by a .45, where the bullet goes in the right temple and comes out the left temple. *468He did not testify that the shot was not suicide. He merely stated that in his opinion, if the gun were held in such a position for the man to pull the trigger himself, the recoil would have been great and would probably have broken the man’s wrist, and he said: “I say probably.” He also said that the blast from the muzzle Would have blown the envelope off the man’s chest if there were one lying there.
This opinion evidence does not upset the factual evidence which can lead to the only logical inference that suicide was committed. Under Judge Achor’s definition of what is contrary to law, the facts of this case fall right in with the definitions he has set forth in his opinion.
I think the Appellate Court’s decision was the right one and that transfer should be denied.
Note — Reported in 202 N. E. 2d 886.