The Backyard

On the afternoon of July 6, 1986, the Defendant and her boyfriend were at a bar in Pleasant Hill, California, where they purchased jewelry from the man. Later that afternoon, the man got into the Defendant's car as she was leaving, and she drove him back to her home. In her bathroom, the man injected himself with heroin from his own supply, using a spoon that the Defendant provided. He then collapsed to the floor unconscious. Rather than calling emergency services or seeking any medical help, the Defendant had her daughter drag the man's unconscious body outside the house. The Defendant did not check on him further. The next morning, the man's body was discovered in the backyard. An autopsy confirmed he had died from a heroin overdose — morphine poisoning — with a blood-alcohol content of 0.28%. The Defendant also took jewelry from the man's body and asked a friend to keep it. At trial, the Prosecution introduced evidence that in 1978, the Defendant's ex-husband had died of a drug overdose, and that the Defendant had at the time been upset that the people with him had delayed seeking medical help.