Court Opinion

ID: 9539733
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:09:21.853927+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:17.160635
License: Public Domain

Mallery, J.
This is an appeal from a judgment and sentence for the crime of murder in the second degree. The appellant is an eighteen-year-old Canadian Indian boy from Deroche, British Columbia. He has a ninth-grade education and is an enrolled member of the Sumas Lakahahmen Tribe No. 52.
On June 14, 1958, he came from his home in Canada to take part in the Stommish, a yearly Indian festival held on the Lummi Indian Reservation near Bellingham. He had been drinking beer in Canada during the morning and continued drinking after his arrival in Bellingham at about 1:00 p. m. At about 8:30 p. m., some friends tried to sober him up in their hotel room. While there, the appellant broke a window, cut himself, and got some blood on his clothing. The friends then went to a movie, but the appellant walked down the street by himself. The purpose of his walk appears in these excerpts from his confessions:
“. . . What really made this thing happen was a couple of girls that came back to my mind, that I had seen at the Stommish; that were wearing both tight jeans and blouses or sweaters. ...” (Exhibit No. 30.)
“ . . . at that time things that I needed badly had overpowered me, so I went after girl took her beside house, laid for awhile, with nothing happening carried her to back of house near the swings. Though desperate for what I needed fled from her screams. Ran a few blocks then walked, ...” (Exhibit No. 30.)
“When I saw the woman, near the house, on T St. I do not remember what I said to her. I do know that I intended to have sexual intercourse with her. I remember struggling with her and dragging her up on the lawn.
“When I grabbed the little girl, I had the urge to have sexual intercourse with her also. However I did not have sexual intercourse with the woman or the girl.” (Exhibit No. 34.)
*601At about 9:00 p. m., Mrs. Tussing left her home at the corner of I and Girard streets to take her daugher to the Peterson home to baby sit. Mrs. Tussing did not return home when expected, and her husband called his daughter at the Peterson’s and was told she had left some túne ago. Shortly after 11:00 p. m., he went out the back door of his home and started to walk down the alley toward the Peter-sons. Just past the corner of his home, he found his wife lying on the ground. She was bleeding, her eyes were black and swollen shut, and she was naked from the waist down. One of her shoes was in the parking strip. He got some blankets to cover her and then went and got his daughter, who called the police.
The police received the call at 11:45 p. m. and arrived on the scene about five minutes later. Mrs. Tussing was then removed to St. Joseph’s hospital where she died a few hours later. The cause of her death was a hemorrhage of the brain caused by a fractured skull.
The following is an excerpt from the appellant’s confession:
“Three police officers just took me out to the 2300 block on I Street where I remember being on Saturday night, June 14th. They showed me a house and some blood on the sidewalk and I went with them up between the house at 2301 I St. and the next house where I remember standing over a woman who was lying on her back on the ground by the house. I walked to the back of the house I remember and then came back and took off her underpants and threw them on the ground when a noise in the house scared me so I left. I don’t know which way I went from there.” (Exhibit No. 31.)
Aaron J. Sunel testified that he had seen the appellant standing at the corner of Girard and I streets at approximately 8:50 p. m.
The appellant further confessed:
“ . . . I don’t remember anything till I found myself standing over this woman beside the house, from there I walked to the back of the house then turned around and went back to the woman, took off her underpants, I then heard a noise, like it came from the house, without waiting *602to see what it was fled, after starting to run my mind just went blank till I saw this girl and took her through the hedge, to the side of the house, then we laid for awhile, with nothing happening took her into neighbors yard to where I saw some swings. Right then the girl screamed then I fled, and don’t remember which way I went from there till I reached this Service Station. I went to washroom after I came out I told the attendant to phone a cab for me so that I could go to a dance at Lummi.” (Exhibit No. 32.)
The girl referred to in the confession was eleven-year-old Sharon Sharp, who lived at 2009 I street three blocks from the Tussing home. She had been visiting a friend that evening and, shortly after 9:00 p. m., started to walk home. As she crossed the street, appellant seized her, put his hand over her mouth, took her behind a neighbor’s house, and tried to rape her. She managed to break away and started screaming. The appellant fled. She then ran home and told her mother what had happened. Her mother went across the street to a telephone and called the police. They received the call at 9:32 p. m. As she and Sharon were returning home, Sharon saw the appellant whom she identified to her mother as her molester. They had followed him a short distance down the street, when they saw the police car driven by Sergeant Bullard, who had been dispatched to the scene in response to Mrs. Sharp’s call.
Sergeant Bullard had observed appellant walking down the street and the Sharps following him. Thinking the mother and daughter might be the persons who had called the police, he stopped and waited for them to come back to the police car. When they got there, they told him what had happened and described the appellant to him. He radioed the description to the police radio operator, took the Sharps in the police car and searched the neighboring streets for the appellant, but did not find him. He then took the Sharps to the police station.
At 9:55 p. m., Sergeant Bullard’s description was relayed to all police cars over the radio. Officer Flockoi, in obedience to the police broadcast, proceeded toward the section of the city in which the Sharps lived. At 10:05 p. m., he *603saw the appellant, who answered the description of the radio broadcast, standing in front of the Evergreen Service Station on the corner of Dupont and C streets, approximately twelve blocks from the Sharp home. As he stopped, he observed that the appellant had fresh blood and grass stains on his trousers and that there was a fresh scratch or cut on his face. While questioning him, Officer Flockoi detected the odor of alcohol on his breath. When asked who he was, appellant identified himself as Henry Thompson and stated that he was eighteen years old. He said that he had come to the service station to wash up and to call a cab. Officer Flockoi then called Sergeant Bullard on the radio.
When Sergeant Bullard arrived he also observed the blood and grass stains, the scratch on the face, and the odor of alcohol. Believing that he had found the molester of Sharon Sharp, the Sergeant then took appellant to the police station for further interrogation. This was shortly before Mr. Tussing had reported finding his dying wife in the alley at about 11:00 p. m.
The appellant’s counsel as their first assignment of error contend that the arrest by the police was illegal and, therefore, all evidence and exhibits obtained thereby should have been excluded.
We hold that the arrest was lawful. The rule is that an officer may arrest without a warrant if he believes and has reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect has committed a felony. State v. Mason, 41 Wn. (2d) 746, 252 P. (2d) 298. Someone had feloniously attacked Sharon Sharp. The appellant fitted the police-broadcast description of the criminal. This constitutes reasonable grounds for the arrest.
The appellant contends that there was no proof of corpus delicti. He seeks to invoke the rule that proof of corpus delicti may not be made solely by use of a confession or admission of the accused, and relies upon State v. Lutes, 38 Wn. (2d) 475, 230 P. (2d) 786 and State v. Meyer, 37 Wn. (2d) 759, 226 P. (2d) 204.
*604The appellant has correctly stated the rule, but it is inapplicable in this case. Proof of corpus delicti is proof that a crime has been committed. The deceased was found stripped to the waist, covered with cuts and contusions, and with a fractured skull which later caused her death. A fall on the pavement could possibly have fractured her skull, but it is unreasonable to infer that an accidental fall would have stripped her to the waist and produced all the other circumstances presented in this case. A coroner’s jury, even in the absence of an arrest or an information relating to the appellant, would be warranted in finding that the deceased had come to her death by criminal means. This is all that is required to establish that a crime had been committed. It is true that appellant’s confessions did corroborate the fact that the cause of death was criminal in nature, but such corroboration, though permissible, was not needed to establish the corpus delicti in this case in view of the other circumstances.
 The appellant contends that the introduction of evidence of another crime, namely, the assault on Sharon Sharp, was reversible error.
We do not agree. The evidence was admissible under the rule as stated in State v. Sedam, 46 Wn. (2d) 725, 284 P. (2d) 292, wherein we said:
“Secondly, proper evidence is not to be excluded because it may also tend to show that the accused has committed another crime, unrelated to the one for which he is being tried. . . . The test is, does the questioned evidence tend to establish (1) motive, (2) intent, (3) absence of accident or mistake, (4) a common scheme or plan, or (5) identity. State v. Hartwig, 45 Wn. (2d) 76, 78, 273 P. (2d) 482 (1954).” (Italics ours.)
In instruction No. 6, the jury was specifically instructed that the evidence of the other crime was admitted solely to establish intent and identity, and that the jury could not find the appellant guilty of the crime charged simply because it believed him guilty of the other crime.
The testimony relating to the crime against Sharon Sharp established the identity of the person who was in the neigh*605borhood of the crime charged, and the existence of his intention to commit a sexual assault.
The evidence was admissible to prove these things and was limited by the instruction to this proper purpose. Its admission was not error.
The appellant contends that evidence of an attempted rape of an eleven-year-old girl is so inflammatory and prejudicial that it should have been excluded on any account.
Paraphrasing the language of an oath, a trial is a search for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. No reason has been advanced why a jury would convict an innocent man because all of the pertinent facts show the crime was a heinous one. Moreover, all the facts are particularly necessary in this case because the appellant was charged with first degree murder. In such a case, it was the province of the jury, had he been convicted of first degree murder, to have determined the nature of the penalty to be imposed. To expect it to do this without all the facts would defeat the legislative purpose in giving it that function.
The appellant contends that the verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree cannot stand because, under the facts in this case, he is either guilty of murder in the first degree or of nothing. He cites RCW 9.48.030 and 9.48.040, which provide, inter alia:
“The killing of a human being, unless it is excusable or justifiable, is murder in the first degree when committed either— . . .
“ (3) Without design to effect death, by a person engaged in the commission of, or in an attempt to commit, or in withdrawing from the scene of . . . rape . . . ”
(RCW 9.48.030.)
“The killing of a human being, unless it is excusable or justifiable, is murder in the second degree . . .
“(2) When perpetrated by a person engaged in the commission of, or in an attempt to commit, or in withdrawing from the scene of, a felony other than those enumerated in RCW 9.48.030. ...” (RCW 9.48.040.)
*606The appellant argues that the state’s case was predicated upon his killing of Mrs. Tussing while attempting to commit the crime of rape, and that, accordingly, under the statute his crime could not be murder in the second degree.
We do not agree. The jury was specifically instructed that murder in the second degree was an included lesser offense, and that it might find the appellant guilty of murder in the second degree if it found him guilty of the crime of assault in the second degree. This instruction warranted the return of the verdict in question because rape or attempted rape does not exclude the commission of an assault. Indeed, an assault is generally the implementation of a rape, except, of course, when it is statutory rape. The jury was instructed on the crime of assault in the second degree. It evidently found that the appellant was guilty of assault rather than attempted rape and, therefore, returned a verdict of murder in the second degree. The verdict was proper.
The appellant was arrested for the attempted rape of Sharon Sharp, but, in accord with the local police custom, he was held on an open charge by being booked for intoxication while an investigation of the attempted rape of Sharon Sharp and the murder of Mrs. Tussing was being made. He was arraigned on the instant charge six days after his arrest. At that time, the court appointed counsel for him.
Appellant now contends that his confinement on an open charge prior to his arraignment was illegal.
We do not agree. Appellant was legally arrested for a felony. He was held on a so-called open charge to permit a reasonable investigation before the filing of an information. The police record or hooking is not the charge upon which a defendant goes to trial and has no particular significance after a formal charge has been lodged. Had he cared to question his confinement prior to filing the information, he could have done so by habeas corpus. After the filing of an information, habeas corpus will not lie.
*607Based upon appellant’s theory that his confinement prior to the information was illegal, he now contends that his confessions made during that period were inadmissible at the trial on the instant charge.
During appellant’s confinement prior to arraignment, he was questioned by police officers and made a series of confessions. He was visited by his sister the day after his arrest and by his father and sister three days later. Officer Geleynse overheard him tell his sister he had committed the offenses against the deceased and Sharon Sharp.
RCW 10.58.030 provides:
“The confession of a defendant made under inducement, with all the circumstances, may be given as evidence against him, except when made under the influence of fear produced by threats; but a confession made under inducement is not sufficient to warrant a conviction without corroborating testimony.” (Italics ours.)
The appellant has never contended that he was coerced by threats into making the confessions. While he was questioned at some length over a period of five days, it is not contended that this period was so protracted that he no longer knew what he was doing or that he would have signed anything to stop the questioning. Nothing in the record indicates that he was so ignorant or fearful of the officers that he would confess to a crime which he did not commit.
An interrogating officer explained to appellant that he did not have to answer the questions if he did not want to, and that he had a right to have an attorney. This statement was contained in all his written confessions, but, notwithstanding that, he testified at the trial that he did not know what “the right to counsel” was. The jury was not obliged to believe this in the light of the conflicting evidence. In any event, he did not request an opportunity to procure or consult counsel prior to arraignment.
The admissibility of confessions is not limited to those made by and with the advice of counsel or to those that are pertinent to a criminal charge pending at the time they *608are made. The confessions and other exhibits were properly-admitted in evidence.
The appellant has not been denied due process of law because an attorney was not appointed prior to his arraignment and the making of his confessions. They were admissible under the provisions of RCW 10.58.030, and the rule of State v. Winters, 39 Wn. (2d) 545, 236 P. (2d) 1038.
The appellant’s contention that the failure to arraign him promptly constitutes reversible error is without merit. There is neither statute nor case law in this state requiring prompt arraignment. Indeed, a defendant may be arraigned even after the trial is commenced and the jury impaneled. State v. Lane, 37 Wn. (2d) 145, 222 P. (2d) 394.
Finally, the appellant assigns as error the refusal of the trial court to allow a doctor-hypnotist to testify as to the out-of-court statements made by the appellant while under hypnosis. When the appellant sought to introduce this testimony at the trial, the state objected on the ground that the statements were incompetent and self-serving. The trial court sustained the objection, and the appellant made no offer of proof. This court has consistently held that there can be no appellate review on the exclusion of evidence without an offer of proof. State v. Griffith, 52 Wn. (2d) 721, 328 P. (2d) 897.
The judgment and sentence are affirmed.
Finley, C. J., Ott, Foster, and Hunter, JJ., concur.