People v. Toliver

WILSON, J. Defendant was charged with the crime of manslaughter, the killing without malice of one Cuba McCaskill. Trial by jury was waived. The court found the defendant guilty as charged, denied her motion for a new trial and sentenced her to imprisonment in the California Institution for Women.

This appeal is from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying a new trial upon the grounds that the judgment is contrary to law and not supported by the evidence.

The record discloses that defendant and McCaskill were residents of the same hotel. On the day of the killing, defendant left her room to return some money which she had borrowed from another resident of the hotel whose room was opposite that occupied by McCaskill and Velma Jane Humphrey. The door of the latter room was open and defendant saw that McCaskill had Velma Jane on the bed choking her. Defendant stopped in the doorway and said, “If I was you I would not do that.” McCaskill released Velma Jane and approached defendant, telling her he would cut her throat. He reached for a knife which was on a bedside table in the room but defendant pushed him, got the knife and backed out of the door. McCaskill without further comment started down the hall and when about 18 steps from defendant, who was still standing in the doorway, threw a bottle at her, missing defendant but hitting another woman. He then walked on down the hall and defendant followed him, still carrying the knife. McCaskill and defendant turned a corner in the hall after which their actions were not seen by anyone until some minutes later when they were observed in the front hall of the hotel, near the stairs, holding one another. McCaskill had blood on his shirt and defendant had the knife which she had taken from his room. A third person spoke to defendant and she and McCaskill released each other, defendant going toward her room and McCaskill going to a friend’s room where he asked to be taken to a doctor. McCaskill stated he was dying and that defendant had cut him. McCaskill was taken to a hospital where he died from hemorrhage due to a stab wound.

In support of her contention that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment defendant argues that there was no direct evidence offered to disprove her testimony that she had been attacked by MeCaskill who attempted to take the knife from her and in the struggle over its possession he was fatally injured; that to establish defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt there must be circumstances or statements [60]