People v. Butler

PEEK, P. J.

Defendant and appellant, Carroll Edward Butler, and his wife, Dorothy, were jointly charged by an indictment with the crime of murder of her 4-year-old daughter. Mrs. Butler entered a plea of guilty to a violation of Penal Code section 192, subdivision 2 (involuntary manslaughter), and was sentenced to prison for the term prescribed by law. The trial of appellant then proceeded before the court, sitting without a jury; he was found guilty of murder of the first degree. He now appeals from the judgment which was thereafter entered and the order denying his motion for a new trial.

At the time Mrs. Butler married appellant she was the mother of Amanda Gayle, the 4-year-old victim. Subsequently, appellant and his wife moved to California, leaving Amanda with Mrs. Butler’s parents in Arkansas. Later, Mrs. Butler brought the child to their home in Portola, where appellant was employed as a logger.

Sometime prior to the fatal beating of the child, appellant had suffered an accident, and as a result his movements were restricted by a body cast which extended from his head to slightly below his waist. However, he did have free movement of his arms. He was taking drugs for relief from the continuing pain and did so on January 6 and 7, 1961.

Appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conclusion that the child’s death was the result of the inhuman treatment she received, Thus, it becomes

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unnecessary to summarize in detail the unmerciful beatings and whippings inflicted on the child with leather belts, leather boot thongs, and finally with a bullwhip on the two days immediately preceding her death. It is sufficient merely to note these uncontradicted facts, the additional evidence that clumps of her hair had been yanked out by the roots, and the testimony of neighbors that they had observed bruises on the child for several months prior to her death.

Doctor Bross, who saw the child immediately after death, testified that 70 to 80 per cent of her body was covered with bruises and that there were hundreds of lacerations; that most of the bruises had been inflicted within two or three days preceding death, although some were much older; that the injuries were produced by heavy and repeated blows; and that a bullwhip could have caused the injuries. He and Doctor Salvadorini testified that death was the combined result of hemorrhages in the skin and tissues, lacerations and contusions of the body, multiple pulmonary emboli, and shock due to trauma.