People v. Jennings

Facts

The defendant and his wife, Michelle Jennings, had been together since Michelle was 14 years old and the defendant was 29 years old. They had a a five year old son together named Arthur.

Approximately two weeks before Christmas, two friends visited the Jennings’ home. They noticed that Arthur was making an odd sound, rocking back and forth, and staring straight ahead. The defendant told them that Michelle had “knocked him out.” Michelle confirmed that she had “socked the damn little brat between the eyes.”

In January, someone saw Arthur and recounted that he had two black eyes, a bandaged hand, and appeared very thin and undernourished.

In February, a neighbor witnessed the defendant grab Arthur and strike him on the back of his head with a fireplace shovel. Arthur died within an hour of being struck on the head with the shovel. The Jennings’ initially buried Arthur’s body in a shallow rave, but a few hours later they unearthed the body and threw it down a nearby desert mine shaft. They attempted to scrub the blood off of Arthur’s bedroom walls, and the defendant burned Arthur’s sheets and the gloves used to bury him.

At trial, a forensic pathologist testified that at the time of his death, Arthur weighed only 35 pounds. The severity of his condition indicated that it was not something that had occurred over a short period of time. He also testified concerning Arthur’s numerous physical injuries, including a bruise and an abrasion on the tip of Arthur’s nose, bruising and a laceration in the area between the nose and the upper lip, bruises on the inside of his lips and gums, a lacerated oral frenulum (between the gum and the upper lip), and a slight bruise on the tip of his tongue. These injuries occurred shortly before death and were most consistent with smothering. He also had  injuries to the back of his head, one injury on the right side that was a few weeks and a second “fresh” injury on the left side that had occurred no more than six hours prior to his death, and possibly as recently as immediately preceding the time of death, but that was not itself life threatening. He also had extensive hemorrhaging and acute pneumonia at the time of his death which attributed to the breakdown of his overall failure to thrive. There were drugs in his system that would have played a minor contributing role in his condition as well.

The expert gave the cause of death as “the entire problem” – the drugs, physical injuries, malnutrition, and emaciation – “all working together.”

The defendant was convicted of murdering Arthur. He appealed, contending that even assuming he tortured Arthur, there is insufficient evidence that his torture was the “but for” cause of Arthur’s death.