Court Opinion

ID: 9760359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:50:06.350435+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:09.265567
License: Public Domain

*953LAMBERT, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the opinion of the Court for the reason that the Commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim was murdered.
At trial, the doctor who testified for appellant stated that it was extremely improbable that the victim died of blunt force trauma to the head as contended by the prosecution. On behalf of the Commonwealth, however, Dr. Nichols testified on direct examination as follows:
Q.52 Were there any other findings?
A. The intracranial examination was performed. There was no identifying external or internal skull fracture associated with the three wounds of the forehead and scalp area as I described it. This, however, does not mean that substantial intracranial trauma had not occurred. The brain, at the time of the examination, consisted of a shrunken, liquified, green mass, as a result of the putrefaction that I talked about. It was confined to a membrane which covers the brain and extends down the spinal cord. The membrane is called the dura. The dura was intact, there were no skull fractures identified, and the brain was liquified. It could have well been injured substantially, it also may not have been injured. There is no way I can tell you that one way or the other. Because the evidence in this case, the brain, is no longer with substance that I can make that determination with.
Q.53 Was there any blood present in that portion of your examination of the brain?
A. No, sir. Blood, if present, would have liquified as a result of the same process that had liquified the brain.
Q..54 Anything else in your examination of the internal remains of Jim Davis?
A. No, sir.
Q.55 Did you at the conclusion of this autopsy examination of Jim Davis come to a conclusion in your professional expertise as to the cause of death?
A. Yes, I did.
Q.56 Would you tell the ladies and gentlemen what your opinion of the cause of the death of Jim Davis was?
A. In my opinion the death of Mr. Davis was the result of a blunt force injury to the head.
Q.57 Would you explain that, why you feel that is the cause of death?
A. I found no evidence of any other type of external trauma which had been applied to his body. I found no evidence of existing disease. He was not shot, strangled, stabbed, or beaten in any other area of the body. And he clearly, because of where his body was found, didn’t die from natural disease and drive himself there.
From the foregoing testimony, it is clear that the victim had no skull fracture, the dura (brain sack) was intact, and the brain had liquified to such an extent that a post mortem examination of it was impossible. In fact, Dr. Nichols testified that from the condition of the brain it was impossible to determine if there was a brain hemorrhage. Moreover, he testified that he was unable to determine what type of blunt instrument caused the head injury and admitted that the injury could have been caused by the bolt in the truck bed, the defense theory. Nevertheless, Dr. Nichols opined, upon the absence of any other explanation for the victim’s death, that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
The question before the Court is whether such evidence is sufficient as a matter of law to permit a jury determination of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Disregarding the testimony from appellant’s doctors, is Dr. Nichols’ view, i.e. death must have been caused by head injury because he found no other injury, sufficient to make a prima facia case? In many cases such deductive reasoning would be entirely acceptable, but in this case the decomposed condition of the body and the absence of any apparent cause of death renders such an approach inherently unreliable. Dr. Nichols’ opinion was without a sufficient factual predicate to permit a jury determination based thereon beyond a reasonable doubt.
*954In Timmons v. Commonwealth, Ky., 555 S.W.2d 234, 238 (1977), this Court said “What the law requires is probability which has been defined as more likely than not.” In Alexander v. Swearer, Ky., 642 S.W.2d 896 (1983), this Court analyzed the requirements for expert opinion. We held the opinion must not be based on assumption or undisclosed facts. In Alexander we noted the “obvious impact on a jury, of the testimony of an unbiased, objective policeman.” Finally, in Wells v. Conley, Ky., 384 S.W.2d 496 (1964), the use of assumption by expert witnesses was rejected.
When the portion of Dr. Nichols’ testimony as quoted herein is objectively examined, it amounts to nothing more than assumption. By simple deduction, Dr. Nichols achieved a decidedly nonscientific opinion. By virtue of his status, however, the opinion expressed was accepted by the jury-