The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Legal
 no body not no murder




Newsgroups: misc.legal,alt.folklore.urban
From: thf2@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank)
Subject: No Body != No Murder Conviction
Date: Sat, 17 Dec 1994 00:54:31 GMT

A recurring tale that I've seen on a.f.u involves the man who murders his wife and then disposes of the body in such a way that it's never found, and therefore gets away with it because without a "corpus delicti", there's no case.

Nope.

Only one state, Texas, requires that the body of the deceased be found and identified, and it's not all that clear that they still do (the legislature repealed the requirement, but apparently some courts still invoke it, though others do not).

Otherwise, if there's evidence to convict, there's evidence to convict, with or without the body.

A very good discussion can be found in Virgin Islands v. Harris, 938 F.2d 401 (3d Cir. 1991), including a three-page-plus long footnote listing and detailing the existing American case law. -- 

ted frank       "Jocelyn Elders Forces Clinton's Hand"
                                       -- Associated Press headline



Any proceeds (net proceeds from merchandise sales) from TAFKAC solely benefit The Chuck Reed Fund.

Copyright Information

http://tafkac.org/