Brackett v. Peters
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
11 F.3d 78 (1993)
- Written by Sarah Holley, JD
Facts
Brackett (defendant) raped and severely beat an 85-year-old widow, Mrs. Winslow. Mrs. Winslow was admitted to the hospital with a broken arm, broken rib, and extensive bruises. Mrs. Winslow remained in the hospital for about three weeks, during which time she became depressed, resisted efforts to feed her, and became more and more weak. Transferred to a nursing home, Mrs. Winslow continued to deteriorate despite the fact that her injuries were healing, and her appetite had become so poor that she had to be fed manually. Just over a week after her admission to the nursing home, Mrs. Winslow died due to asphyxiation while a nurse was feeding her through a feeder syringe. Brackett was convicted of felony-murder. Brackett appealed the trial court’s denial of his petition for federal habeas corpus from his felony-murder conviction, claiming that there were intervening actions that caused Mrs. Winslow’s death and, therefore, no rational trier of fact could have found that Brackett caused the death of Mrs. Winslow.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Posner, C.J.)
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