Criminal Law Keyed to Dressler
People v. Beardsley
ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The Defendant was a married man. While his wife was out of town, he arranged to spend time with Ms. Burns, with whom he had been previously acquainted. The two spent the weekend together drinking liquor in the Defendant’s apartment. When they ran out of liquor, a young man from the Columbia Hotel brought more. The young man appeared on Monday afternoon to see if they wanted anything, and Ms. Burns sent him to the drugstore to get camphor and morphine. Ms. Burns concealed the morphine from the Defendant, but the Defendant and the young man noticed her putting something in her mouth. The Defendant knocked the box out of her hand and crushed several of the tablets. Nevertheless, she probably took about three to four grains of morphine. The young man then left, but the Defendant called him about an hour later and asked him to take Ms. Burns to the basement apartment so that his wife would not see her. By this time, she was in a stupor and did not respond when spoken to. The Defend ant was too intoxicated to help at this time. Ms. Burns died later that day, and the Defendant was charged with manslaughter for failing to render aid to her.
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