Case Title: Sotelo v. State

Citation: 342 N.E.2d 844

Docket Number: 574S89

State: indiana

Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Date: 1976-03-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
342 N.E.2d 844 (1976)
Raul Rudy SOTELO, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
No. 574S89.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
March 12, 1976.
*845 A. Martin Katz, Katz & Brenman, Merrillville, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Joseph J. Reiswerg, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
ARTERBURN, Justice.
The Appellant, Raul Rudy Sotelo, of Gary, Indiana, was convicted on October 2, 1974, of the first degree murder of one Carrie Louise Duncan. A motion to correct errors was filed with the trial court on December 9, 1974. It is from the denial of this motion on January 14, 1975, that the Appellant presents this appeal.
The evidence at trial revealed that at about 7:40 a.m. on September 27, 1973, the Appellant borrowed the automobile of a co-worker, Alberto Alverez, explaining that he did not feel well. Shortly after 8:00 a.m. the Appellant offered a ride to a friend, Adrian Martinez, who was walking from his home to the high school he attended. The two drove around for some time and went to the home of one John Jacquez. Jacquez was not home at this time, but was found there when the Appellant and Martinez returned a short time later. Jacquez joined his two friends in their drive.
At approximately 9:30 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. the Appellant and his two passengers came across two girls walking along the street. One of the girls, Carrie Louise Duncan, the deceased, accepted a ride with them, while the other proceeded to her home. The Appellant and his three passengers drove to an isolated area of Ridgelawn Cemetery in Gary and stayed there approximately five minutes. They then drove to the home of Nini Badillo. The evidence revealed that Carrie Louise Duncan was at this time twelve years old.
Upon their arrival at the home of Nini Badillo, the Appellant and the deceased went into one of the bedrooms of the home for some twenty minutes. Their companions watched television. The Appellant, around 12:00 noon, announced that he was taking the victim home and left with her. He returned alone some ten to twenty-five minutes later.
The body of the deceased was found later that afternoon at Ridgelawn Cemetery. *846 The partially-clad body showed a number of wounds. Articles of clothing were strewn around the scene of the crime.
After first denying any wrongdoing, the Appellant confessed to the killing. His rendition of events following his departure with the victim from the Badillo home is as follows:
We consider first the admissibility of this confession.
The Appellant urges error in the admission of his confession into evidence on two grounds. First, it is asserted that the Appellant was not sufficiently advised of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694. Second, it is contended that police conduct in the administration of a lie detector test of the Appellant was fraudulent and coercive, rendering the confession involuntary and inadmissible.
The waiver of rights signed by the Appellant which gives rise to the first contention reads as follows:
The Appellant finds error in the words "of my choice" in Section 2 and the words "may or will" in Section 1. "Of my choice" is said to create ambiguity regarding the appointment of counsel prior to interrogation since one only has a choice of counsel when he can afford it. It is thus implied that pauper counsel is not possible at that time. "May or will" is found deficient in that it should be more emphatic. It should read "can and will."
In Jones v. State, (1969) 253 Ind. 235, 252 N.E.2d 572, this court discussed the adequacy of the wording of such advisements. We quoted with approval Coyote v. United States (10th Cir.1967) 380 F.2d 305 at 308:
An extensive hearing on the Appellant's motion to suppress the confession was held by the trial court. Evidence, including a tape recording of the Appellant's interrogation, revealed that the Appellant was orally advised of his rights in addition to having the waiver form presented to him. That oral advisement did not contain the language complained of in the written form. It simply said, in part, that anything said "can" be used against him in a court and that he had a right to an attorney. Testimony at the suppression hearing also revealed that prior to interrogation the Appellant was asked if he understood the waiver form he was reading. He replied that he did because he had been arrested before.
The waiver form used by police here is not on its face ambiguous or misleading. A common sense reading does not lead to the Appellant's conclusions of ambiguity. Moreover, evidence heard at the suppression hearing clearly established that the Appellant was not subjectively misled. There is sufficient evidence on the record to support the trial court's conclusion that the Appellant's confession was knowingly given.
The Appellant's contention that his confession was involuntary revolves around his submission to a polygraph examination on the night of his confession. The Appellant told police that he wished to take a polygraph test to show he was truthful. It is contended that the administration of this test amounted to actual or psychological coercion. This court recognized the potentially coercive effects of polygraph examination in Montes v. State, (1975) Ind., 332 N.E.2d 786. We wrote at 792-793:
Unlike Montes v. State, supra, the trial court in this case was presented with a complete record of the polygraph examination. The test had been videotaped and the recording and a written transcript of it were presented to the trial court. The record reveals no flagrant misstatements to the Appellant of the test results. The complained of examiner repeated his interpretation before the trial court. An expert called to dispute that interpretation admitted that differences of professional opinion are not uncommon. The record also reveals no blatantly coercive interrogation. The Appellant was certainly coaxed into making his admissions. A reading of that interrogation, however, does not necessarily give rise to conclusions of coercion.
This court will not disturb a trial court's ruling on the admissibility of a confession when that ruling is based on substantial evidence, even though conflicting with other evidence. Rogers v. State, (1974) Ind., 315 N.E.2d 707; Cooper v. State, (1974) 261 Ind. 659, 309 N.E.2d 807. As with the issue of the knowing nature of the Appellant's waiver of his rights, the trial court was presented with ample evidence upon which it could conclude that the confession was voluntary. We can therefore find no error in the admission of the Appellant's confession into evidence.
The Appellant also contends that the verdict of the jury regarding the sanity of the Appellant was not supported by sufficient evidence. The issue of sanity is one to be determined by the trier of fact and one for which the State bears a burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. This court in Blake v. State, (1975) Ind., 323 N.E.2d 227, stated the standard of appellate review to be followed:
The Appellant presented six witnesses in support of his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Called by the trial court to testify were two physicians appointed to examine the Appellant pursuant to Ind. Code § 35-5-2-2 (Burns 1975). These witnesses presented the evidence upon which the Appellant's sufficiency argument is based.
Lay testimony by four witnesses  the Appellant's mother, sister, wife, and a former school classmate  established a pattern of emotional distress following the death of the Appellant's father when the Appellant was nine years old. The Appellant was subject to frequent outbursts of anger and a desire to be alone much of the time. The Appellant on occasions beat his mother, sister, and wife.
Two expert witnesses were also called by the Appellant to testify. The first, a psychologist, testified regarding psychological tests he administered to the Appellant. Indicated, he concluded, was a diagnosis of *849 paranoid schizophrenia. The second expert, a psychiatrist, testified that he examined the Appellant and concluded that on September 27 the Appellant was suffering from a mental disorder which made him unable to determine the wrongfulness of his act. The disorder was diagnosed as chronic and differentiated schizophrenia. It was his opinion that the Appellant's psychotic condition at the time of the crime also rendered him unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.
The two psychiatrists appointed by the court did not go so far as to diagnose the Appellant's precise mental disorder. It was the conclusion of each physician, however, that the Appellant was at the time of the crime, unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law and was therefore legally insane.
Against this evidence the jury considered other evidence of sanity on the part of the Appellant. First, as the brief of the Appellee points out, "there was considerable testimony by persons who were in the presence of the defendant immediately preceding the commission of the murder and immediately following the commission of the murder. All such testimony was that the defendant appeared cool, normal and did not appear to be acting in any manner other than normal." While the Appellee's brief neither points to the parts of the record where such testimony exists nor names the witnesses so testifying, our review of the record indicates that this was the case.
A second factor indicating sanity on the part of the Appellant when this crime was committed was the Appellant's description of the crime in his confession. He simply admitted that he "got scared and backed up, and pushed the gas, and ran over her." The witnesses called by the defense established a pattern of physical violence evidenced by beatings and possible loss of memory. The jury could have determined that this crime did not fit into this established pattern.
Third, testimony by police officers revealed that on two occasions the Appellant exhibited anger without any physical violence whatsoever. The Appellant, after his first interrogation, was told he was being placed under arrest. He turned red, shouted, cursed in both English and Spanish, but exhibited no attempt at physical force. Similarly, when the Appellant's wife was arrested for disturbing the peace by talking to the Appellant from outside a window of the jail, the Appellant became angry with no sign of physical violence.
The jury in this case chose to interpret these events as inconsistent with the Appellant's claim of insanity. We cannot weigh the evidence, nor can we judge the credibility of the witnesses. Accordingly, we can only find that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict.
The Appellant also finds reversible error in the admission into evidence of State's Exhibits 6 and 7, color photographs of the body of the victim at the scene of the crime. He argues that these photographs were gruesome and shocking and that there were numerous black and white photographs depicting the same subject matter available to the State.
The Appellant has failed to show prejudice resulting from the admission of the photographs. His primary rationale in support of his position  that a number of black and white photographs virtually identical to the color ones could and should have been used  is also his undoing. Several such photographs were admitted. The black and white photographs entered without objection into evidence by the State and those entered into evidence by the Appellant himself are no less gruesome than those questioned here.
Indeed, the essence of the Appellant's argument appears to be that color photographs are more gruesome than black and white photographs. This was not the case *850 here and certainly cannot stand as a general principle of law. Moreover, the Appellant does not contend that these photographs are not a true representation of what they portray. The fact is that a color photograph, properly processed, should be more true and accurate in its representation than a black and white photograph.
Meredith v. State, (1966) 247 Ind. 233 at 237-238, 214 N.E.2d 385 at 387-388. The photographs here were relevant and accurate. We can find no error in permitting the jury to see them.
The judgment of the trial court below is affirmed.
GIVAN, C.J., and PRENTICE, J., concur.
DeBRULER, J., concurs in result with opinion.
HUNTER, J., concurs in result with opinion.
DeBRULER, Justice (concurring in result).
I agree with the view of the Court that there was sufficient evidence of sanity to support the jury's decision here. There is evidence that appellant was eighteen years old, an employee of U.S. Steel, and that on the day of the killing, he, in concert with friends picked the victim up, and took her to his apartment. They engaged in conversation and had an ordinary human encounter during the apartment visit. In the car, the appellant sought to convince the victim to have sexual relations with him, and being unable to do so, became angered and enraged by reason of his frustrated expectations. In this state of anger, he struck out at the victim, with the means at hand, namely, the automobile. He had violently attacked women in his life before when they did not meet his expectations. It seems to me that the jury would have been warranted in concluding from this evidence, and that stated in the majority opinion, that appellant's attack upon the victim was the product of anger and frustration *851 engendered by being denied what he wanted from a person he considered weaker and inferior, and that such a violent and infantile reaction, tragically resulting in death, was the act of a sane person and was causally unconnected to any mental disease or defect.
I do not however agree that the precautionary warnings given to appellant prior to his confession conformed to the requirements of Miranda v. Arizona, (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694.
Appellant's counsel points out the defect in this form in his brief. There he contends:
The precautionary warnings do not clearly tell the person about to be questioned that if has no money to hire a lawyer, one would be provided for him prior to any questioning, and that he could consult with that lawyer and have him present during questioning. It is the absence of such a clear statement which condemns these warnings as constitutionally inadequate.
However, I concur in the affirmance of this conviction in spite of the erroneous admission of this statement, because within the setting of this case the admission of the statement is so insignificant and unimportant as to be consistent with the Federal Constitution. Chapman v. California, (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 87 S. Ct. 824, 17 L. Ed. 2d 705. At the time the State rested its case-in-chief, a prima facie case had been made by the State without the confession, and so the appellant was not required to go forward with his defense as a result of the statement being in evidence. When considered at that point in the trial, the erroneous admission was harmless beyond a *852 reasonable doubt. And then, when considered at the end of the entire trial, that confession must be deemed harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, because of the testimony of the expert witnesses who testified on the issue of sanity. Appellant's statements to them were entirely corroborative of and consistent with the statement erroneously admitted in evidence during the State's case-in-chief.
HUNTER, Justice (concurring in result).
This case presents a special plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The legal standard by which appellant's plea must be judged is the alternative formulation of the Model Penal Code, Section 4.01, adopted by this Court in Hill v. State, (1969) 252 Ind. 601, 251 N.E.2d 429. Section 4.01 provides:
A legally defensible application of this standard requires the trier of fact to make at least four determinations in the accused's favor before his plea may be upheld. The initial determination is whether the defendant, prior to the act for which he stands charged, was suffering from a mental disease or defect. In this determination the jury is negatively instructed that a mental disease or defect does not include "an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct." If the trier of fact concludes that the defendant prior to the crime suffered a mental disease or defect, it must further determine whether the operation of the disease or defect on the mind of the accused substantially diminished his mental capacity. Next, the trier must determine whether the accused, at the time of the crime, still bears the scars of the disease or defect, i.e., whether his mental capacity remains substantially diminished. Finally, the trier must decide whether this mental debility rendered the accused unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct, or if he could appreciate its wrongfulness, nevertheless, he was unable to conform his actions to the requirements of the law.
The defense of insanity is premised upon the notion that criminal sanctions serve as no deterrent and should not be imposed upon one who is unable to conform his conduct so as to avoid the imposition of such sanctions. This premise did not always obtain; until the thirteenth century insane persons were routinely held accountable for their criminal acts, with their affliction being considered only as a basis for pardon. See Perkins, CRIMINAL LAW 850 (1969). Contrary to popular mythology, a defendant who is insane at the time the offense is committed and pleads insanity as his defense is more likely to go to jail than go free. Our law of insanity, which is based upon an arguably enlightened premise, operates much like the law of the thirteenth century, but without the candor of those earlier times. Since a defendant's guilt or innocence turns upon his state of mind when the crime was committed, he is necessarily entitled to have a jury pass upon his mental condition. Thus, while a defendant may be insane for purposes of medical treatment, the question of whether the same condition renders him insane for purposes of relieving him of criminal responsibility is a question of fact to be decided solely by the trier of fact. Blake v. State, (1975) Ind., 323 N.E.2d 227. Expert testimony in the area of insanity  as with other questions of fact  is *853 not entitled to special weight and competes on the same plane with the weakest of lay testimony. Riggs v. State, (1976) Ind., 342 N.E.2d 838; Moore v. State, (1973) 260 Ind. 154, 293 N.E.2d 28.
Initially, expert medical testimony was viewed with distrust because of the imperfect state of the art and the forces of anti-intellectualism which viewed such testimony as an affront to the common-sense of the jurors:
Bradley v. State, (1869) 31 Ind. 492, 509.
Medical advances in the discovery and treatment of mental disease since 1869 merely affect the weight of the expert testimony and do not compel its acceptance by the jury. Appellant, if he is able, may well ponder the justice of a system which finds him guilty when the testimony of three psychiatrists and one psychologist was uniform in conclusion that he was unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. Perhaps he will find solace in knowing that the same system would not have precluded his use of lay testimony to rebut expert testimony had it not been in his favor. In any event, under the present law of insanity, appellant's conviction must be affirmed, because there was some evidence from which the jury could find that he was able to conform his actions to the law, but declined to do so when he committed the crime.
The foregoing does not mean, however, that justice has triumphed in this case.