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PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence against a US citizen for murdering his ex-wife in a hotel four years ago.
The panel, led by Judge Yaacob Md Sam, upheld Superior Court Judge Azman Abdullah’s findings that Gerald Wayne Mickelson was guilty of killing Guilda Mickelson. The other judges on the panel were Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Ravinthran Paramaguru.
Mickelson was convicted of murder in September 2018.
Witnesses for the prosecution had told the Superior Court that Mickelson had “confessed” to hitting Guilda’s head with a lamp in the hotel room, and subsequently strangled her.
The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Guilda’s remains said at trial that the cause of death was due to a “neck compression” due to strangulation.
“Appellant (Mickelson) told hotel staff and confessed that he killed his ex-wife. The appellant’s admission to the staff raised the inference that he alone was directly responsible for his death, ”said Court of Appeal Judge Ravinthran, who drafted the court’s judgment.
On a matter raised by the defense that the police failed to investigate the injuries Mickelson suffered during his fight with Guilda, Ravindran said the court found no merit in this argument.
“His defense was based on self-defense, and that the deceased, who was heavier, physically attacked him during the fight. But the judge did not buy into the idea.
“The investigating officer said that he (Mickelson) never complained of being injured and she also did not notice injuries on him,” he added.
Meanwhile, the defense also argued that the trial judge had made an erroneous conclusion about the mens rea (intention) element of the case, as the prosecution could not prove that the fatal neck injury was intentional.
“Based on the evidence, the appellant had undoubtedly strangled the deceased to death, and there is no place to argue that the infliction of such injury was unintentional or accidental,” Ravinthran said.
Mickelson’s attorney, N Sivananthan, said they would take the case to Federal Court.
