Court Opinion

ID: 9660044
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:02:01.166307+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:13.841351
License: Public Domain

On Motion, for Rehearing
MORRISON, Presiding Judge.
The pictures, which form the basis for this appeal, have been described as ghastly and horrible. In a sense this is true of any picture of the body upon which acts of violence have been committed. The body portrayed in these pictures had been cleaned and lay prone on a hospital bed. They were not taken at the scene of the crime, and no blood or weapons were visible. We concluded originally that an issue had been made by the appellant’s testimony as to the number of wounds he had inflicted upon the body of the deceased, together with his testimony about Castilleja having inflicted an injury to her head. To the writer it is immaterial that this issue was raised by cross-examination. It was raised by the defendant’s testimony.
■Now to return to a description of the pictures. Our opinion herein is not to be construed as necessarily authorizing the introduction of pictures taken at the scene of the crime lying in pools of blood, but we do hold here that pictures such as these which tend. to solve a disputed issue are admissible, especially when taken against the least possible inflammatory background.
■ Appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled.