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State v. Dixon6/3/2005
State v. Shaw, 260 Kan. 396, 398, 921 P.2d 779 (1996) K.S.A. 60-456(b) provides: "If the witness is testifying as an expert, testimony of the witness in the form of opinions or inferences is limited to such opinions as the judge finds are (1) based on facts or data perceived by or personally known or made known to the witness at the hearing and (2) within the scope of the special knowledge, skill, experience or training possessed by the witness." To satisfy subsection (1), the prosecutor asked Mitchell whether he reviewed the police investigation reports and investigation findings. Mitchell testified that he had and that he did so in " rying to figure the sequence of events, what is and is not known as possible in the sequence of events that led to these people's demise." The prosecutor followed up by asking, "Do you need that information to then determine for the cause of death or, excuse me, for the conclusion required under Kansas law to state manner of death?" The witness answered, "I include that, yes."
Mitchell is the district coroner for Lyon County. He testified that a coroner is responsible for investigating any death within his or her jurisdiction where the State has some interest in the death and that he is responsible for determining the "cause and manner of death as stated in the statute." Asked to distinguish cause from manner, Mitchell stated that " ause is what kills you" and " anner of death defines the circumstances under which the cause results in your death." He gave the following examples:
" omebody could point a gun at you, pull the trigger, kill you. The cause would be the gunshot injury. The manner in that sequence would be a homicide. You could drop a gun, it would discharge because it's, let's say, improperly constructed, the bullet strikes you. The cause of death will be the gunshot. The manner of that instance will be accident. You could get tired of it all, point a gun at yourself, discharge the firearm. The cause of death, what killed you, would be the gunshot. The manner under those circumstances would be suicide."
He testified that he was required under Kansas law to file a death certificate with the Office of Vital Statistics. Over defense counsel's objections, the death certificates of Dana and Gabriel Hudson were admitted into evidence. The forms have a space for the "Manner of Death" with six possibilities listed: natural, accident, suicide, homicide, pending investigation, and could not be determined. On the certificates for Dana and Gabriel Hudson, there is an "x" in the box for homicide.
The admissibility of a coroner's report of death was an issue in State v. Hobbs, 276 Kan. 44, 71 P.3d 1140 (2003). Hobbs was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jathan Stevenson. Hobbs argued that the trial court erred in not allowing into evidence the county coroner's report of death for Stevenson, who died when the vehicle in which he was riding was struck by Hobbs' vehicle. In the coroner's report, Stevenson's manner of death was classified as an accident. In refusing to admit the document, the trial judge told defense counsel that he was "not going to allow to put that into evidence to show this was an accident." 276 Kan. at 52. On appeal, Hobbs revealed that his purpose in offering the document indeed was to show that "the State's own investigators . . . concluded that this was a traffic accident, not a murder as charged by the prosecution." 276 Kan. at 52. This court concluded that the report was an official court record admissible (see K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 60-460 , which is the hearsay exception for the content of official records) and that it was relevant. Thus, the trial court's exclusion of the report was error, but this co
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