State v. Grose

Cecil Grose (defendant) shot Jamie Forbes, causing two serious gunshot wounds that put her in a coma; days later, her parents instructed hospital staff not to resuscitate her if her heart or lungs stopped, to spare her further suffering, and she soon died. The state proved that Forbes would have died from the wounds within hours if she had not been hospitalized, and that her wounds were the actual cause of death. Grose was convicted of homicide and appealed, arguing the immediate cause of death was the parents' nonresuscitation order rather than his shooting.