What is the test for establishing the corpus delicti of homicide?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Roads v. Superior Court In and For Siskiyou County, 275 Cal.App.2d 593, 80 Cal.Rptr. 169 (Cal. App. 1969):
1 Evidence that the victim had been a healthy man before receiving a bullet wound which went through his body in the heart area, and that he became lifeless almost immediately thereafter, has been held sufficient to establish the corpus delicti of homicide. (People v. Wood (1905) 145 Cal. 659, 661, 79 P. 367.)
2 Petitioner fails to note that the evidence may be construed to support a charge of manslaughter on the theory that some of the ingredients necessary to excuse the act as a justifiable homicide may not have been accepted by the grand jury. (People v. Lewis (1960) 186 Cal.App.2d 585, 598, 9 Cal.Rptr. 263.)
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