People v. Brackett

Randy Brackett (defendant) severely beat, choked, and raped 85-year-old widow Elizabeth Winslow. She died five weeks later. Twenty-one-year-old Brackett used only his bare hands, but at six-foot-three, he broke bones. After three weeks in the hospital, Winslow’s prognosis remained poor. Winslow had been a feisty, independent woman, but she became depressed, resisted eating, and progressively weakened. Her doctor attributed her poor prognosis to how trauma and removal from home for hospitalization often affect elderly people. Her doctor concluded she was too weak to swallow, transferred her to a nursing home, and ordered a nasal-gastric tube, but her injuries made inserting it impossible. Winslow became cyanotic, and her doctor summoned her family. After a nurse’s aide fed her small amounts of pureed food for 20 minutes, Winslow died of asphyxiation. The autopsy doctor explained Winslow aspirated food because the pain associated with her broken rib kept her from inhaling enough air to clear her trachea. The prosecution (plaintiff) charged Brackett with felony murder. The judge convicted, specifically finding that Brackett was a contributing cause of Winslow’s death, and the appellate court affirmed. Brackett again appealed, arguing he did not cause Winslow’s death from asphyxiation, lacked intent to kill, and did not know or foresee that beating someone with bare fists could cause death.