Henry Adolph Busch was convicted in Los Angeles of three murders committed in 1960. A jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree for the death of Margaret Briggs and of murder in the second degree for the deaths of Shirley Payne and Elmyra Miller. It also convicted him of assault with intent to commit murder on a fourth woman. The three deaths occurred on separate occasions, the first in early May 1960 and the other two in the first week of September. The jury fixed the penalty at death on the first-degree count, and Busch was executed on June 6, 1962.
Busch was 29 when the Supreme Court of California decided his appeal in 1961. He had no prior criminal record. He lived in Los Angeles and worked at an optical factory in the city. He had served in the military. His adoptive mother, who was also his half sister, testified at trial that he had "never been normal."
Elmyra Miller was in her seventies. She died in early May 1960.
Shirley Payne was about 65. She died over the weekend before Labor Day, 1960. Testimony placed her death on Sunday, September 4.
Margaret Briggs died in the early hours of Tuesday, September 6, 1960, the day after Labor Day. Hers was the only one of the three deaths for which the jury returned a verdict of murder in the first degree.
On the morning of September 6, 1960, Busch committed the offense against a fourth woman for which he was later convicted of assault with intent to commit murder. She survived, and police officers took Busch into custody that morning in Los Angeles.
Busch then told police that he had killed two other women the previous weekend. He later admitted a third death, in May 1960. He gave several statements to police. Three recorded confessions were later read to the jury, and no impropriety in obtaining them was claimed.
Busch was tried on four counts. Count 1 charged the death of Margaret Briggs, count 2 that of Shirley Payne, count 3 that of Elmyra Miller, and count 4 the assault with intent to commit murder. The trial was held in Los Angeles County.
The defense did not dispute that Busch had made the admissions. Its case was that he was mentally ill and could not deliberate or premeditate, which bore on the difference between murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree under Penal Code section 189. A psychologist testified that he was of low intelligence and could not deliberate about his homicidal tendencies. A psychiatrist diagnosed a schizoid personality with repeated schizophrenic outbursts and concluded that none of the killings showed a clear, deliberate intent to kill. His adoptive mother testified, and the testimony of the physician who attended his birth was stipulated. A physician who had examined him thirteen times and used hypnosis in doing so was not allowed to give his opinion that Busch could not premeditate or deliberate. Busch did not testify.
The jury returned verdicts of murder in the first degree on count 1, murder in the second degree on counts 2 and 3, and guilty on count 4 of assault with intent to commit murder. It fixed the penalty on count 1 at death. Motions for a new trial and to reduce the penalty were denied. On each of the other counts Busch received the term prescribed by law, to run concurrently.
The appeal to the Supreme Court of California was automatic under Penal Code section 1239(b). In People v. Busch, Criminal No. 6853, the court sat in bank, and Justice White wrote the opinion. Chief Justice Gibson and Justices Traynor, Schauer, McComb, Peters and Dooling concurred.
Busch raised three main points. The first concerned a hypothetical question put to a defense expert on cross-examination; the court held that such questions may be used to test an expert's accuracy and competence, that evidence supported the question and that no prejudice resulted. The second concerned the exclusion of the hypnosis-based opinion; the court held that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion, because the reliability of hypnosis for that purpose had not been shown and the witness's qualifications in the field were limited. The third was the sufficiency of the evidence of deliberation and premeditation on the Briggs count; the court found substantial evidence supporting the jury's implied finding. On November 22, 1961, it affirmed the judgment and the order denying a new trial.
Execution was set for March 14, 1962. On March 13, his half sister and adoptive mother applied to the Supreme Court of California for a writ of habeas corpus or, in the alternative, a writ of error coram nobis. The court issued an order to show cause and stayed the judgment. The petition and supporting affidavits claimed that police knew of a witness who could have given material testimony for the defense and that evidence had been suppressed.
On April 16, 1962, the court discharged the order to show cause and denied the petition. It found that neither the police nor the district attorney had known of the witness or the evidence, that defense counsel had enough information to prompt an inquiry, and that the evidence in question was consistent with the prosecution's theory and would not have prevented the judgment. The stay was terminated and the decision was final immediately. The case is reported as In re Busch, 57 Cal.2d 536.
Busch was executed in California on June 6, 1962. The state's record of the execution lists him as Adolph Henry Busch of Los Angeles County.
In 1960 California law divided murder into degrees under Penal Code section 189. A killing by deliberation and premeditation was murder in the first degree, which carried the possible penalty of death, and other murders were of the second degree. A jury that found first-degree murder fixed the penalty, and an appeal after a death sentence went to the Supreme Court of California automatically under section 1239(b). Busch's trial turned on this line, and the jury drew it differently for the three deaths.
The three deaths were separate events: early May, the weekend before Labor Day, and the early hours of September 6, 1960. He is recorded both as Henry Adolph Busch and as Adolph Henry Busch. The claim of suppressed evidence made on his behalf was rejected by the court in 1962.
Early May 1960: Elmyra Miller dies in Los Angeles.
September 4, 1960: Shirley Payne dies in Los Angeles.
September 6, 1960: Margaret Briggs dies; Busch is taken into custody after the assault on a fourth woman and admits the earlier deaths.
1961: Jury verdicts: murder in the first degree (count 1), murder in the second degree (counts 2 and 3), assault with intent to commit murder (count 4); the jury fixes the penalty at death on count 1.
November 22, 1961: The Supreme Court of California affirms the judgment in People v. Busch.
March 13, 1962: Petition for habeas corpus or coram nobis filed; the judgment is stayed.
April 16, 1962: Petition denied in In re Busch.
June 6, 1962: Busch is executed in California.