People v. Green

Opinion

BROWN (Gerald), P. J.

Edward Louis Green, defendant, appeals a judgment after jury trial convicting him of assault (Pen. Code, § 240) and mayhem (Pen. Code, § 203).

On April 20, 1975, Green struck his best friend John Williamson in the right eye with a machete. The blow knocked Williamson down and caused extensive injuries to his eye, which Green claims are insufficient to support a conviction of mayhem.

In early common law, mayhem was committable only by inflicting an injury which reduced the victim’s formidability in combat. Thus,

[3]

mayhem included cutting off a man’s hand or finger, or striking out his eye or foretooth, or “depriving him of those parts the loss of which in all animals abates their courage.” But what is important now is not the victim’s capacity for attack or defense, but the integrity of his person

(United States

v.

Cook, 462

F.2d 301, 302-303 [149 App.D.C. 197]).

Penal Code section 203 provides: “Every person who unlawfully and maliciously deprives a human being of a member of his body, or disables, disfigures, or renders it useless, ... or puts out an eye, ... is guilty of mayhem.”

The expression “puts out an eye” means the eye has been injured to such an extent it cannot be used for the “ordinaiy and usual practical purposes of life”

(People

v.

Nunes,

47 Cal.App. 346, 350 [190 P. 486]).

Two opthalmologists established the extent of Williamson’s injury. Williamson sustained a severe concussion to his right eye which completely dislocated the lens. It is lying in the rear of his eye cavity and is serving no optical purpose. The lens is normally attached to the iris by a border of tiny filaments and is needed to focus images on the retina. It is impossible to replace.