People v. Phillips
Supreme Court of California
414 P.2d 353 (1966)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Phillips (defendant), a doctor of chiropractics, persuaded the parents of an eight-year-old child with terminal cancer to forgo surgery that would have saved her life and instead utilize Phillips’ treatment designed to “build up her resistance.” The parents paid $700 to Phillips for treatment and medicine, but the child died six months later. Phillips was charged with murder. The trial judge instructed the jury that it could convict Phillips of murder if it found that he had committed theft by deception, i.e. grand theft, and that the child died as a proximate result. Phillips was convicted of felony murder and he appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tobriner, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.