Major Lisenba

Overview

Major Lisenba (also known as Raymond Lisenba and Robert S. James) was executed by hanging for the murder of his wife Mary Busch in California. He purchased life insurance on Mary and attempted to kill her using rattlesnakes, after which he drowned her and attempted to make her death appear accidental.

Timeline

• 1935 — Lisenba purchased a life insurance policy on his wife Mary Busch.
• August 3, 1935 — A snake handler named Joe Houtenbrink, also known as “Snake Joe,” delivered rattlesnakes that were to be used to kill Mary Emma.
• August 4, 1935 — Lisenba blindfolded Mary Emma, tied her to the kitchen table, and thrust her foot into a box containing two rattlesnakes; after the snake venom did not kill her, he drowned her and later had her body placed in a fish pond.
• March 21, 1939 — The Supreme Court of California affirmed the judgment with two judges dissenting.
• October 5, 1939 — The Supreme Court of California reaffirmed the decision and adopted the former opinion with two justices dissenting.
• April 8, 1941 — The United States Supreme Court denied a petition involving Lisenba’s case after a 4-to-4 vote on a fair trial question.
• December 8, 1941 — Lisenba v. People of State of California (314 U.S. 219) was decided.
• Feb. 2, 1942 — Rehearing was denied.
• May 1, 1942 — Lisenba was executed by hanging at San Quentin State Prison in California.
• May 9, 1942 — Lisenba was executed by hanging at San Quentin State Prison in California.

Background

Ray Lisenba worked as a barber in the area of present day La Cañada Flintridge, California in the 1930s. His wife in those years was a manicurist named Mary Busch.

In 1935, he purchased a life insurance policy on his wife Mary Busch. The couple later discovered that Mary was pregnant. Mary insisted on an abortion. Lisenba persuaded a friend, Charlie Hope, to pose as a doctor. Lisenba and Hope procured rattlesnakes and Hope helped with the plan to kill Mary.

After Mary’s death and after the case attracted attention, police checked Lisenba’s background and found evidence from a prior marriage in which one of his prior wives had died under similar circumstances.

The offence

Murder of Mary Busch / Mary Emma James

Lisenba blindfolded Mary and tied her to the kitchen table. Her eyes and mouth were taped shut. He persuaded Hope to pose as a doctor and then told Charles Hope that he was getting Mary ready for “perform some kind of operation on her for pregnancy.”

Lisenba then introduced Mary’s foot into the box containing the rattlesnakes. The rattlesnakes were described as “hot” diamond-backed rattlesnakes. Mary was bitten by the rattlesnakes.

After the rattlesnakes did not kill Mary, Lisenba decided to drown her. He drowned her in a bathtub and then dragged her body to a lily pond in the garden, leaving her face down in the water so that her death could be discovered later as an apparent accidental drowning.

Lisenba attempted to make the drowning appear accidental. Investigators initially believed Mary had got drunk and had drowned herself.

Related claims and outcomes involving other deaths

The narrative included multiple other deaths involving people connected to Lisenba:

• Lisenba reported to police in Colorado Springs: “My poor wife has drowned in the bathtub. She must have been dizzy from the car crash and slipped unconscious beneath the water.”
• His accident-prone nephew, Cornelius Wright, took his car, drove off a cliff, and killed himself.
• Lisenba’s nephew was linked to an insurance policy taken out on the youngster’s life.

Investigation and arrest

Police believed Mary had got drunk and accidentally drowned, but later arrested Lisenba for a different crime. After a subsequent investigation, police landed him at San Quentin for Mary’s murder.

Lisenba was arrested and charged with incest. The charge was connected to suspicion that he was sleeping with his niece. He was arrested on April 19, 1936, and booked on the incest charge on the morning of April 21.

Trial

Charlie Hope testified at trial and helped demonstrate how Mary’s feet were introduced into the deadly box. At trial, Hope also described that Lisenba had blindfolded Mary’s eyes, tied her to a table, and had Hope bring a snake into the room, causing the reptile to bite her foot.

At the trial, the jury heard evidence including testimony and expert evidence regarding the body’s condition. The trial included evidence about the death of a former wife of James in 1932, involving an accident on Pike’s Peak Highway and a later drowning in a bathtub.

Verdict and sentencing

The jury returned a verdict finding the defendant Major Raymond Lisenba, also known as Robert James, guilty of murder in the first degree.

He received the death penalty. Charles Hope was sentenced to life in prison.

Quotes from the trial coverage and statements

In coverage of the verdict, the following quotation was included:

• “We find the defendant, Major Raymond Lisenba, also known as Robert James, guilty of murder in the first degree”.

Lisenba was described as having said:

• “I can Take It”

Lisenba was quoted as saying:

• “I want to thank you Russell, for all you've done”

Appeals

The case proceeded through California courts and was appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

The following item of procedural information was included:

• Lisenba v. 219) was decided on December 8, 1941.
• The rehearing was denied on Feb. 2, 1942.
• The Supreme Court affirmed the judgments, and the judgments were affirmed.

The United States Supreme Court’s opinion included the statement:

• “The petitioner's contentions, based upon the Fourteenth Amendment, are: that the conduct of the prosecuting officials and police officers denied him the equal protection of the laws; that his conviction deprived him of his life without due process, because the testimony of Hope, an accomplice, was not corroborated as required by the Penal Code of California and was, therefore, insufficient to sustain a conviction; because Hope's affidavits filed since the trial showed that his testimony was obtained by deceit, fraud, collusion, and coercion and was known to the prosecutor to be false and hence the trial was a mere pretense; because the alleged occurrences in Colorado were wholly disconnected from the crime charged and petitioner was afforded no opportunity to answer the State's evidence respecting them; because the production of the rattlesnakes in the court was solely for the purpose of inflaming the jury; and because physical violence, threats, and other coercive means produced the confessions, and denial of requested opportunity to consult counsel preceded and accompanied their procurement.”

The decision also included:

• “The judgments are affirmed.”

A dissent included statements:

• “I believe the confession used to convict James was the result of coercion and compulsion, and that the judgment should be reversed for that reason.”
• “Due process of law, preserved for all by our Constitution, commands that no such practice as that disclosed by this record shall send any accused to his death.”

Outcome

Lisenba was executed by hanging at San Quentin State Prison in California.

Aftermath

A description of the execution included that it was a botch job, and that it took over ten minutes for him to die due to the rope being the wrong length.

His execution was described in relation to being the last man to be executed by hanging in California and included that it took more than 10 minutes for him to die at the end of the rope.

Other details

Names and aliases

Lisenba was also known as Rattlesnake James and Robert S. James. The name Major Raymond Lisemba appeared in the sentencing/verdict coverage and in the United States Supreme Court materials.

The insurance scheme

The apparent motive included $14,000 on Mary’s life policy after he collected $14,000 and divorced her.

The narrative also included a statement that the apparent motive was $20,000 in life insurance coverage on Mary.

Prior-wife account and related quote

A 1939 legal document quoted in the narrative included:

• “...while driving down Pike’s Peak, their automobile went off the road. James went for aid. When the persons called upon reached the automobile they found James’ wife lying partly outside the car with her head badly crushed and a bloody hammer in the back of the car. James appeared unhurt.”

The narrative included a police-station statement by Lisenba:

• “Wright promptly drove off a cliff, killing himself. The mechanic who towed the wreck back to James told him that something was wrong with the steering wheel...”

Medical and autopsy details

At the coroner’s inquest, medical examiner George B. Gilmore testified that Lisenba told him Mary’s drowning was the result of ignoring physician’s orders to avoid washing her hair because of the head wound.

For Mary’s earlier death, an autopsy finding included:

• fractures of the skull from two blows, one on the side and the other on the front of the head;
• the fractures were caused by a hard, moving object being projected against the head and not by the head being projected against a hard, stationary object;
• the blow on the side of the head had been received first.

Incest arrest and confession timing

Lisenba was arrested and charged with incest on April 19, 1936. The United States Supreme Court materials included that:

• Hope pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• James pleaded not guilty, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
• Lisenba made statements on May 2 and 3.

The narrative included a quote attributed to Lisenba about the timing and confession:

• “That is that”

Execution report quote

In addition to the execution outcome, the narrative stated:

• “James became the last man to die on the gallows in California.”
• “It was a botch job – it took more than 10 minutes for him to die.”