State v. Smith

Harold Bernard Smith’s appeal from a conviction of first-degree murder raises several issues, three of which warrant detailed discussion: (1) whether the warrantless search and seizure of Smith’s clothes, placed in an anteroom outside his hospital room, was reasonable; (2) whether the State established a prima facie case of the corpus delicti; and (3) whether the verdict was supported by substantial evidence. We hold that the items seized were properly admitted because the search was consented to by the hospital which had joint control of them, that a prima facie case of the corpus delicti…