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State v. Perez-Cervantes8/24/2000
em; (2) cocaine raises a person's blood pressure; (3) Thomas was stable and no longer bleeding upon discharge from the hospital; (4) after his discharge, Thomas' blood pressure became elevated due to cocaine in his system, thus causing him to begin bleeding again; and (5) according to Thomas' death certificate, cocaine and morphine use were factors contributing to his death. In light of the testimony of both these witnesses, it is inconceivable the majority can conclude there was no evidence in the record from which the jury could infer Thomas' drug abuse 'constituted a subsequent, proximate cause that Perez-Cervantes could not have reasonably anticipated.' Majority at 10.
The majority largely rests its holding on the fact the medical examiner, although testifying to all the facts noted above, then offered his opinion that Thomas' drug abuse, while a contributing factor to his death, was not the 'cause of death.' Majority at 11. The medical examiner's opinion, however, by its very nature went only to the medical cause of death, and not the legal cause of death. Under the Rules of Evidence, the doctor would be forbidden to offer an opinion as to the legal cause of the victim's death. ER 704 cmt. (noting 'experts are not to state opinions of law . . . .); Washington State Physicians Ins. Exch. & Ass'n v. Fisons Corp., 122 Wn.2d 299, 344, 858 P.2d 1054 (1993).
The medical examiner's opinion was, therefore, hardly dispositive of the issue of causation. While medical causation may be offered as a component of expert opinion, legal causation is for the trier of fact to determine. The cause of death is a question of fact for the jury to decide from all the facts and circumstances. It is generally customary to introduce expert medical testimony to establish the cause of death; however, proof thereof need not be confined to that character of testimony. Engstrom, 79 Wn.2d at 476 (citing State v. Bozovich, 145 Wash. 227, 259 P. 395 (1927); L.S. Tellier, Annotation, Necessity, in Homicide Prosecution, of Expert Medical Testimony to Show Cause of Death, 31 A.L.R.2d 693 (1953)); see also State v. Childs, 8 Wn. App. 388, 391, 506 P.2d 869 (1973) (noting 'proof of the cause of death does not depend solely upon expert medical testimony'); 31A Am. Jur. 2d Expert and Opinion Evidence sec. 258, at 258-59 (1989). Thus, regardless of whether the medical examiner labeled the cocaine in the victim's system as a medical 'cause' or 'contributing factor,' it was for the jury to assign the proper weight to that testimony and draw any inferences from the facts in the record.
The majority also strays from the mark by overwhelmingly relying on cases where this court has rejected sufficiency of the evidence challenges to jury verdicts. Majority at 8-10; see also State v. Leech, 114 Wn.2d 700, 704, 790 P.2d 160 (1990) (defendant claimed on appeal that death did not occur in 'furtherance of the arson as required by the felony murder statute'); Little, 57 Wn.2d 516 (defendant claimed on appeal jury was not warranted in concluding his actions were the proximate cause of the victim's death); State v. Karsunky, 197 Wash. 87, 92, 84 P.2d 390 (1938) (defendant claimed on appeal that evidence was insufficient to sustain conviction); State v. Richardson, 197 Wash. 157, 165, 84 P.2d 699 (1938) (defendant claimed on appeal that corpus delicti of murder had not been satisfied and evidence was insufficient to uphold conviction). In these cases, it was merely alleged that the jury's verdict was erroneous because the defendant's acts were not the proximate cause of the victim's death due to intervening acts such as medical malpractice. In none of these cases, however, was it even suggested the defense
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