Posted on 06/14/2003 4:44:10 PM PDT by Rollee
A suburban carnival worker has been charged with beating a co-worker to death with a mallet, although Aurora police said the victim--who was briefly hospitalized after the April 25 attack, then released--didn't die of his injuries until a month later.
It was only after 38-year-old Philip Bates of St. Charles died on May 25 that an autopsy found the fatal head injuries that authorities believe were inflicted during the earlier fight.
An investigation then led police to 39-year-old John Harry Nuckles of Bolingbrook, who was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Bates' death, Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said Friday.
Nuckles is accused of hitting Bates in the head with a 3-pound, rubber-headed mallet during the April 25 fight at a carnival in Aurora. Bates initially went to his home, then later to a suburban hospital, where he was transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, according to police.
He was released from the hospital several days later, but was found dead in his bed by a roommate on May 25, Ferrelli said. After the autopsy found evidence of blunt head trauma, police launched an investigation that led them to Nuckles, who is being held in the Kane County Jail on $2 million bond.
On a related note, what are the exact rules with regard to injuries that at some point prove fatal? What about cases where an injury from long ago is aggravated by something that happens later?
As an example, suppose that someone assaults someone and causes them to lose a kidney. Twenty years later the person's other kidney fails and the person dies. Should the original assailant be held responsible for the person's death?
I posted the article because I thought the perp's name was funny - John Harry Nuckles. The truth is I'm odd and have a strange sense of humor.
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