Court Opinion

ID: 9544245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:53:33.474145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:30.391307
License: Public Domain

HOWELL, J.,
dissenting.
Using the test established by the majority, I believe that the inferences of innocence which may be drawn from the circumstantial evidence adduced by the State were sufficient to establish a reasonable doubt, and therefore the case should not have been submitted to the jury.
I do not believe there was sufficient evidence to establish to a moral certainty and beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant murdered her father-in-law and mother-in-law. It is true that the defendant lied about her presence in Seattle on the night of the murders. However, proof of lying does not supply all the other links which are missing and which are necessary to connect the defendant with the commis*145sion of the crimes. There is absolutely no proof of any motive on the part of the defendant to kill Mr. and Mrs. Krummacher, nor even any evidence of animosity by defendant toward the decedents. Neither is there evidence that robbery could have been the motive, because Mrs. Krummacher’s purse containing $140 was found after the murders.
Further, the State presented no theory of the case which explains all of the physical facts and suggests that the defendant would drive back to the Krummacher home at the coast, kill one of the victims and some time later kill the second victim, cover one with a towel, and carefully clean the other and cover her with a blanket. It also seems unreasonable to infer that the defendant would be the one who dug the bullet from the door casing in the kitchen. At least three shots were fired, but only one bullet was recovered, and there was no explanation for the missing bullets.
Another important item which was missing from the State’s case was the complete failure to show that the defendant was anywhere within a hundred miles of the scene.
There are too many missing links in this case, too many important questions which remain unanswered, for me to conclude that sufficient facts were presented from which a jury could find to a moral certainty and beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was the one who committed the two murders. I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
McAllister, J. and Tongue, J. join in this dissent.