{ "id": 5472201, "name": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RICHARD KELLY, Defendant-Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "People v. Kelly", "decision_date": "1982-03-25", "docket_number": "No. 80-892", "first_page": "280", "last_page": "285", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "105 Ill. App. 3d 280" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "177 N.E.2d 112", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "pin_cites": [ { "page": "114" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "22 Ill. 2d 592", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2790508 ], "pin_cites": [ { "page": "596" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/22/0592-01" ] }, { "cite": "243 N.E.2d 208", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "year": 1961, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "214" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "41 Ill. 2d 351", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2853189 ], "year": 1961, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "360" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/41/0351-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 611, "char_count": 12166, "ocr_confidence": 0.908, "pagerank": { "raw": 4.03580807328026e-08, "percentile": 0.15999291850605962 }, "sha256": "e80596eba3883ef5fe0088b2aeb7711c8f2a65eb37c5ca2481037b637d98f98a", "simhash": "1:eff0791b143d9fd3", "word_count": 2027 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T17:10:29.392087+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RICHARD KELLY, Defendant-Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "PRESIDING JUSTICE JOHNSON\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nDefendant, Richard Kelly, was charged with involuntary manslaughter (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 9 \u2014 3(a)) and aggravated battery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 12 \u2014 4(a)). After a jury trial, he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of aggravated battery; he was sentenced to a term of 3 years in the Department of Corrections. Defendant appeals. The following issues are raised for review: (1) whether the People established a causal relationship between the condition found in the body of the decedent after an autopsy and the occurrence alleged in the information; (2) whether defendant was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of manslaughter; (3) whether the trial court erred in sustaining the People\u2019s objection when defendant sought to obtain an opinion as to the cause of death from one of the treating physicians; and (4) whether the trial court erred in giving a jury instruction defining circumstantial evidence, when all of the evidence adduced at trial was direct evidence.\nWe reverse.\nTestimony at trial established the following.\nHenry Price, the son of the victim, John Price, testified for the People. On March 1, 1979, John Price, who was 78 years old, resided at the Northwestern Nursing Center in Evanston, Illinois. He was placed in the nursing center because he would wander away from home. In the son\u2019s opinion, his father\u2019s mental faculties may have been impaired but his father was in good physical condition.\nDorita Moss, a rehabilitation assistant at the nursing center, testified that around 11 a.m. on March 1, 1979, she was on the third floor of the nursing center when she heard loud noises coming from a utility room. She walked to the room and saw Price on the floor and defendant Kelly on top of him. Moss stood 5 feet away from defendant, facing his back. Price\u2019s hands were above his head and defendant was holding Price\u2019s hands. Defendant\u2019s left knee was on the floor and his right knee was up. Defendant said, \u201cAre you ready for me to shave you now, Mr. Price?\u201d Then defendant pushed his right knee into Price\u2019s abdomen. Defendant repeated the question but Price did not respond. When defendant again pushed his knee into the same area, Price said, \u201cYes, yes, I\u2019m ready.\u201d Then defendant picked up Price, pushed him into a nearby chair and pulled the chair toward the utility room. Moss went downstairs. Later she told Christine Dodson, another nursing center employee, what she had observed. Prior to March 1,1979, Price was ambulatory and would talk with Moss. After the incident, Moss visited Price in his room and asked how he was feeling. Price did not respond.\nOn cross-examination, Moss stated that at a grand jury proceeding, she testified that the victim was in a prone position with both hands backward and that \u201cprone\u201d means \u201cface downward.\u201d At the proceeding she later stated that Price was on his back. In the opinion of Moss, Price was a quiet but stubborn man.\nChristine Dodson worked in social rehabilitation at the nursing center. On March 1,1979, she was assigned to the third floor. At around 11 a.m., she was in the dining room when defendant came in to take Price to shave him. Price did not want to be shaved but defendant insisted he was going to shave Price. Defendant picked up Price and took him forcibly from the dining room. When Dodson left the dining room, she heard a commotion coming from the utility room. Defendant was attempting to put Price in a chair; Price was fighting. They both fell to the floor with defendant on top of Price. Defendant asked Price a number of times, \u201cAre you going to shave?\u201d Price said, \u201cNo.\u201d Then defendant kicked Price in the stomach twice. Dodson reported the incident to her supervisor. At a meeting shortly thereafter, defendant said, \u201cWith a bunch of crazy people like this around, you have to use force.\u201d\nAfter the incident, Dodson saw Price. As she passed by, he asked, \u201cLady, will you tell me where the washroom is?\u201d Dodson said, \u201cMr. Price, you know [where] the washroom is, one in your room and one down the hall.\u201d Price attempted to get up but fell back in the chair. Dodson took him to the nurse. On cross-examination, Dodson said that defendant kicked Price in the right abdomen with his knee.\nThe parties stipulated to the testimony of Philip L. Gillette, the funeral director who conducted services for Price. Gillette would have testified that Price was buried on March 9, 1979, and that his body was exhumed on April 10, 1979.\nDr. Michel Jurayj, a cardiovascular surgeon, was on duty at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago on March 2, 1979. At about 9 or 9:30 p.m., he examined Price. One of Price\u2019s legs was colder than the other. Price was comatose and his abdomen was slightly distended. When the doctor touched the lower abdomen, he noticed that Price winced and he concluded that Price had some pain there. Price did not wince when Jurayj touched his upper abdomen. Dr. Jurayj testified that although the abdomen is outside his field of expertise, he had suspected an acute abdomen which would indicate either inflammation or that a blocked artery was gangrenous. Jurayj\u2019s first diagnosis was dehydration. There was no indication of external trauma in the abdomen.\nThe parties then stipulated that John Price on whom Dr. Robert Stein performed an autopsy on April 12,1979, was the same John Price identified in the information.\nDr. Akshay Mahadavia, a physician affiliated with St. Joseph Hospital, examined Price on March 4,1979, and pronounced him dead. In his report, there was no reference to any contusions on the body of Price.\nMichael Foley, an Evanston police officer, investigated the March 1 incident at the nursing center and requested an exhumation of the body of John Price. On April 10,1979, Price\u2019s body was exhumed.\nRobert J. Stein, chief medical examiner of Cook County, performed an autopsy upon the body of John Price on April 12, 1979. Dr. Stein testified that his examination revealed a dark blue area of subcutaneous hemorrhage over the right pectoralis muscle which is the area on the right side of the chest above the nipple. There was also a contusion on the left elbow. An internal examination of the body revealed an area of blunt trauma characterized by the presence of hemorrhage at the bottom of the right pleural cavity which contains the right lung. There was also hemorrhage below the pleural cavity in the upper abdominal region approximately 6 inches from the pelvic area. Stein explained that blunt trauma is an injury produced by an object which is not sharp. In Stein\u2019s opinion, the trauma could not have been caused by the embalming process. The absence of external injuries in the abdominal area indicated, according to Dr. Stein, either that the injured person may have been wearing clothes, that the trauma was of the pressure type, or that the trauma-causing instrument was covered by soft materials.\nDr. Stein found evidence of arteriosclerosis, a generalized degeneration of blood vessels in the heart and aorta and evidence of thrombosis or bloodclotting in the abdominal portion of the aorta, but he found no abnormality in the mesentery vessels and no septicemia which is bacterial infection of the blood stream. In Stein\u2019s opinion, Price\u2019s death was caused by blunt trauma of the chest and abdomen in association with generalized arteriosclerosis. On cross-examination, Dr. Stein stated that arteriosclerosis was a pre-existing condition with no relationship to trauma.\nSaloman Dayan, a staff physician at the nursing center, testified for the defense. He signed the death certificate for John Price. On the certificate, he listed the cause of death as cardiorespiratory arrest which is cessation of heart and lung functions. Septicemia was listed as a secondary cause of death, and mesentery thrombosis or clotting of the mesentery vessels was the third cause. Dayan did not know that defendant was alleged to have pushed his knee into the victim\u2019s abdomen.\nDefendant Kelly testified in his own defense. At the time of trial, he was 39 years old. In March 1979, defendant was employed at Northwestern Nursing Center as an orderly assigned to the third floor where the psychiatric patients resided. On March 1, 1979, he was assigned the duty of bathing, shaving and dressing John Price. After bathing and dressing Price, defendant escorted him to the dining room for lunch. At 11 or 11:30 that morning, defendant talked with Price about shaving, but Price did not want to be shaved. Defendant took Price to the utility room, sat him down in a chair and shaved him. As he began to put aftershave lotion on Price\u2019s face, Price jerked back and kicked the chair. Price said that defendant was trying to hurt him. Price kicked defendant in the stomach and kicked the chair. Defendant attempted to grab Price\u2019s legs, to stop the kicking, and also grabbed the chair which turned over. As a result, defendant fell on top of Price. Defendant admitted that he pinned the victim\u2019s arms over his shoulders. He stated that he was trying to pull Price up because it was the only way he could lift him. He denied pushing his knee into Price. After the incident, defendant helped Price to his feet. The entire incident, from the time defendant began shaving Price until he helped Price to his feet, lasted about 10 minutes.\nDefendant had bathed Price on four previous occasions. He and another orderly would hold Price, pick him up and put him in the tub. After the incident, defendant took Price to his room and asked whether he was all right; Price said, \u201cYes.\u201d Defendant then reported the incident to Mrs. Ramiris, the head nurse on the third floor. Defendant was fired that day by the director of the nursing home.\nThe defense rested after defendant\u2019s testimony. A jury found defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of aggravated battery. Defendant was sentenced to 3 years in the Department of Corrections.\nDefendant contends the State did not establish that the March 1 incident in which defendant is alleged to have pushed his knee into the victim\u2019s abdomen caused the death of the victim. We agree. It is essential that the prosecution establish the corpus delicti. In a criminal homicide, the elements to be proved are proof of death and proof of a criminal agency causing death. (People v. Gendron (1968), 41 Ill. 2d 351, 360, 243 N.E.2d 208, 214.) Each element must be proved by competent evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Jones (1961), 22 Ill. 2d 592, 596, 177 N.E.2d 112, 114.\nThe medical examiner testified for the prosecution and stated that blunt trauma of the chest and abdomen in association with generalized arteriosclerosis caused the death of John Price. The victim\u2019s arteriosclerosis was a pre-existing condition unrelated to trauma. Although there was evidence presented which would support an inference that defendant may have caused the abdominal trauma, no evidence was introduced as to the cause of the trauma in the chest. Testimony by three other physician witnesses did not establish that the criminal agency of the defendant caused the victim\u2019s death. Dr. Jurayj\u2019s first diagnosis was dehydration. Dr. Mahadavia found no contusions on the victim\u2019s body. Dr. Dayan, the physician who signed the death certificate, gave as the causes of death: cardiorespiratory arrest, septicemia, and mesentery thrombosis.\nWe hold, therefore, that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant\u2019s alleged criminal agency caused the victim\u2019s death. Because of our decision, it is unnecessary to address the other issues raised by defendant.\nFor the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Cook County is reversed.\nReversed.\nJIGANTI and LINN, JJ., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "PRESIDING JUSTICE JOHNSON" } ], "attorneys": [ "Julius L. Sherwin, of Chicago, for appellant.", "Richard M. Daley, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago (Michael E. Shabat, Joel A. Stein, and Frank Castiglione, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RICHARD KELLY, Defendant-Appellant.\nFirst District (4th Division)\nNo. 80-892\nOpinion filed March 25, 1982.\nJulius L. Sherwin, of Chicago, for appellant.\nRichard M. Daley, State\u2019s Attorney, of Chicago (Michael E. Shabat, Joel A. Stein, and Frank Castiglione, Assistant State\u2019s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People." }, "file_name": "0280-01", "first_page_order": 302, "last_page_order": 307 }