Lamothe

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction of second degree murder entered upon a jury verdict.

On March 10, 1962, in response to an emergency call, an ambulance and a police officer were dispatched to an apartment occupied by appellant and his wife, Shirley. There they found Linda Jean Moody, a 16-month-old baby. She was unconscious and her breathing was irregular.

The child was taken to the hospital. Her body was filthy and covered with bruises, some of which appeared to be quite recent.

Brain damage was indicated and surgery was performed. This revealed two large subdural hematomas, one on each side of the brain. One was older than 24 hours and the other was quite recent. The brain tissue was soft, swollen and mushy and, according to the medical testimony, was due to repeated injuries to the head.

The child died three days later. The autopsy revealed that the immediate cause of death was acute cerebral edema, traumatic in origin.

The first physician who saw the child at the hospital testified that she “was covered with bruises over the forehead, top of the head and down the face and the arms and legs”; that some of the bruises were newly inflicted but many of them…