People v. Adamson, 27 Cal. 2d 478

Supreme Court of California

1947

Chapter

3

Title

A Contemporary Approach

Page

39

Topic

Relevance A Primer

Quick Notes

         Fingerprints and stocking part was evidence used to establishing a logical link.

o         To be admissible, evidence must tend to prove a material issue in the light of human experience.

Book Name

Evidence: A Contemporary Approach.  Sydney Beckman, Susan Crump, Fred Galves.  ISBN:  978-0-314-19105-2.

Issue

o         Whether evidence that it not sufficient to indentify the Df as the criminal is admissible?  Yes, Although the presence of the stocking tops in the defendants room was NOT by itself sufficient to identify the defendant as the criminal, this constitutes as the logical link in the chain of evidence.

Procedure

Trial

o         Df was convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary

Supreme

o         Affirmed

Facts

Discussion

Key Phrases

Rules

Pl People

Df Adamson

Description

o         The body of Stella Blauvelt, a widow 64 years of age, was found on the floor of her Los Angeles apartment on July 25, 1944.

Died Preceding Day

o         The evidence indicated that she died on the afternoon of the preceding day.

Face Up

o         The body was found with the face upward covered with two bloodstained pillows.

o         A lamp cord was wrapped tightly around the neck three times and tied in a knot.

Strangulation

o         The medical testimony was that death was caused by strangulation.

Severely Beaten

o         Bruises on the face and hands indicated that the deceased had been severely beaten before her death.

Df Argues

o         The evidence is not sufficient to identify him as the perpetrator.

Evidence

o         The strongest circumstance tending to so identify the defendant was the finding of six fingerprints, each identified by expert testimony as that of the defendant, spread over the surface of the inner door to the garbage compartment of the kitchen of the deceased's apartment.

o         After the murder, this door was found unhinged, leaning against the kitchen sink.

Df Questions

o         Counsel for defendant questioned witnesses as to the possibility of defendant's fingerprints being forged, but the record does not indicate that any evidence to that effect was uncovered.

Pl - Entrance Theory

o         The theory of the prosecution was that the murderer gained his entrance through the garbage compartment,

o         found the inner door thereof latched from the kitchen side, and

o         forced the door from its hinges.

Relevant Evidence

o         To be admissible, evidence must tend to prove a material issue in the light of human experience.

Pl - Stocking Evidence

o         Tops of 3 stockings were identified as being taken from the Df - room.

o         They were not all the same color.

o         At the end of each stocking, part of the stocking was removed and a knot was tied.

o         There was evidence that on the day of the murder deceased had been wearing stockings.

o         The lower part of a silk stocking with the top part torn off was found lying on the floor under the body

o         The stocking tops found in the defendants dresser were relevant to identify the defendant because their presence on his dresser and in drawer.

o         This tends to indentify the Df as the person who removed the stockings from the victim and took away the top of one and the whole of another.

Logical Link

o         Although the presence of the stocking tops in the defendants room was NOT by itself sufficient to identify the defendant as the criminal, this constitutes as the logical link in the chain of evidence.

Thrown light on a disputed fact

o         Evidence that tends to throw light on a fact in dispute may be admitted.

Affirmed

Rules

Rule 401. Definition of "Relevant Evidence"

         "Relevant evidence" means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.

Rule 402. Relevant Evidence Generally Admissible; Irrelevant Evidence Inadmissible

         All relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States, by Act of Congress, by these rules, or by other rules prescribed by the Supreme Court pursuant to statutory authority. Evidence which is not relevant is not admissible.

Class Notes