Arthur Villella was murdered by Thomas Kusmider after he was confronted at his home on November 15, 1982 (General Elements of Crimes, 2010). Kusmider had gone to Villella’s home after he was told by his girlfriend, that Villella had allegedly sexually assaulted her. Upon Kusmider’s arrival to Villella’s home, a fight took place that resulted in Villella being shot in the neck. Paramedics were called and aid was administered. However, damage to smaller vessels in Villella’s neck caused blood to drain into his windpipe and subsequently, paramedics placed a tube in his windpipe in order to help with Villella’s breathing (General Elements of Crimes, 2010). Additionally, Villella had lost conscious prior to the arrival of the paramedics arriving. Therefore, when he was able to gain some consciousness he was already en route to the hospital, and began to flail his arms about and pulled the trachea tube from his throat (General Elements of Crimes, 2010). Within an hour of Villella’s arrival to the hospital, he was pronounced dead. As a result, the case of Kusmider v. State, 688 p. 2d 957 (Alaska App. 1984), Thomas Kusmider was convicted of second-degree murder of Arthur Villella after a jury trial (General Elements of Crimes, 2010). Kusmider did not agree with the court’s decision to link him …show more content…
Yet, in this particular case, Villella’s cause of death by a gunshot wound was undisputable. Hence, Judge Johnstone prohibiting Kusmider from pursuing the issue before the jury of proximate causes (General Elements of Crimes, 2010). Judge Johnstone ruled that just because there was a possibility of failed medical assistance did not negate the fact that under the circumstances, Villella was shot and therefore there was no interruption in the chain of proximate causation; thus, there was no issue presented by Kusmider that would show proof of errs in the assessment of the proximate