Northrop
People v. Northrop
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Newsom, J.
Appellant was convicted after jury trial of second degree murder (Pen. Code, § 189) and felony child abuse (Pen. Code, *1032 § 273a, subd. (1)). She was thereafter sentenced to state prison for 15 years to life on the murder conviction and concurrently for the middle term of two years on the child abuse conviction. The convictions were based on the following pertinent facts.
On December 10, 1979, at approximately 6:40 a.m., appellant and her husband, Mike Northrop, arrived at the Kaiser Hospital in Redwood City. Mike entered the emergency room, contacted a nurse and explained that his 22-month-old child was “ill.” The nurse accompanied him to his car and took the child from appellant, who was “just sitting there” with the child in her arms. When the nurse picked up the child, he noticed that it was “rigid and cold.” He then carried the child into the emergency room and contacted one of the physicians.
When told that the child, Kelly, was dead on arrival, Mike cried and “broke down,” but, according to the testimony of nurse May Donovan and Dr. Joseph Robinson, appellant remained very “unemotional” and “stoic.”