Title: Van Dusen v. State

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

197 Kan. 718 (1966)
421 P.2d 197
LARRY OWEN VAN DUSEN, Appellant,
v.
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee.
No. 44,477

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed December 10, 1966.
J.C. Edwards, of Iola, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellant.
Robert C. Londerholm, attorney general, and Frederick G. Apt, Jr., county attorney, were on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
HARMAN, C.:
This is an appeal from an order denying appellant post conviction relief.
On October 21, 1958, appellant was arrested upon a warrant issued by the county court of Allen county, Kansas, charging one count of burglary in the first degree and larceny in connection therewith and one count of burglary in the second degree and larceny in connection therewith. In each instance the property alleged to have been stolen consisted of women's underwear. Appellant requested preliminary hearing upon these charges. Such preliminary hearing was set for November 12, 1958, at which time appellant appeared with his retained counsel, a member of the Allen county bar, and waived preliminary hearing and was bound over for trial in the district court of Allen county.
On November 17, 1958, appellant, then eighteen years of age, appeared on such charges in the Allen county district court without counsel. Upon a showing that appellant was destitute another member of the Allen county bar was appointed to represent him. Later upon the same day and after a recess the following proceedings occurred as reflected in the journal entry of judgment:
The court then sentenced appellant to the state industrial reformatory for the statutory period for the offenses of burglary in the first degree and larceny in connection therewith as contained in count one of the information, such sentences to run concurrently. The charges contained in the other count were dismissed.
At the time these sentences were imposed the sentencing judge was aware of a history of aberrant behavior by appellant consisting of the taking of female under apparel. A letter to the Allen county attorney from appellant's mother in California indicated she had first become aware of his behavior about four years previously. She had sought the help of a psychiatrist with the result that appellant was made a ward of the Orange county, California, juvenile court and committed to the Atascadero State Hospital in that state during the period from May 5, 1956, to June 15, 1957. He was discharged from that hospital with the notation "further treatment not beneficial."
It further appears that after appellant's commitment to the reformatory pursuant to the Allen county sentence he was released under parole about January 19, 1960. Thereafter and on July 18, 1960, he appeared in the district court of Stafford county, Kansas, being represented by court appointed counsel, and pleaded guilty to the offense of second degree burglary, which charge evidently involved the taking of women's under apparel from a Stafford county home. Upon the joint application of the Stafford county attorney and appellant's attorney the Stafford county district court referred appellant to the Larned State Hospital for examination and report pursuant to G.S. 1959 Supp. 62-1534 and 62-1535. Appellant evidently remained at the Larned hospital until September 20, 1961, when he was discharged with the indication as alleged by appellant "hospitalization was no longer required." Appellant was returned to the state industrial reformatory for parole violation under the Allen county sentence. On October 3, 1961, upon the motion of the Stafford county attorney the burglary charge against appellant in that county was dismissed.
*721 In 1964 appellant filed in the Allen county district court his pro se motion pursuant to K.S.A. 60-1507 to vacate the sentence confining him to the reformatory. The motion was based primarily on his assertion of insanity at the time of the commission of the alleged offenses and upon the failure of the trial court to order a sanity hearing for him. Included in these allegations were claims of denial of effective assistance of counsel based upon lack of time to prepare a defense, and the making of a confession while insane. The trial court, without plenary hearing, denied appellant's motion as indicated in its memorandum decision to-wit:
"The defendant's application is denied."
Thereafter appellant filed his notice of appeal from this decision and present counsel was appointed to represent him upon the appeal. The principal matter urged as error here is based on the failure of the trial court to order a sanity hearing for appellant at the time he was originally sentenced.
In approaching this matter it must be kept in mind the sanity of one charged with crime may involve two inquiries which are separate and distinct: First, sanity at the time of the commission of the alleged crime, and, second, sanity at the time of trial. The test of criminal responsibility differs from that of mental competency to stand trial (State v. Andrews, 187 Kan. 458, 357 P.2d 739, cert. den. 368 U.S. 868, 7 L. Ed. 2d 65, 82 S.Ct. 80). The test of responsibility for commission of crime in Kansas is what is commonly referred to as the M'Naghten rule, that is, whether the accused was capable of distinguishing between right and wrong at the time and with respect to the act committed (State v. Andrews, supra). Insanity at the time of the commission of crime is to be regarded as a defense in the criminal prosecution for such offense and as such it is to be presented and determined during the trial (Fisher v. Fraser, 171 Kan. 472, 233 P.2d 1066), and such question cannot be raised or considered in a 60-1507 proceeding inasmuch as the guilt or innocence of a convicted person is not properly justiciable therein (Kiser v. State, 196 Kan. 736, 413 P.2d 1002). Hence appellant's allegation in his 1507 motion that he was insane at the time of the commission of the alleged offenses affords no ground for relief.
The mental competency of an accused to stand trial was considered in State v. Severns, 184 Kan. 213, 336 P.2d 447, and the test thereof defined as follows:
Appellant asserts that the trial judge erred in not ordering a sanity examination prior to arraignment inasmuch as he had knowledge of appellant's mental deviation. Such hearing could have been had pursuant to G.S. 1949 (now K.S.A.) 62-1531 which provides:
Implicit therein is recognition that an insane person cannot be required to plead to a criminal charge and cannot be tried.
In State v. Collins, 162 Kan. 34, 174 P.2d 126, the court, with respect to the application of the foregoing statute, held:
This duty was considered in Brewer v. Hudspeth, 166 Kan. 263, 200 P.2d 312, a proceeding in habeas corpus where, as here, as a ground for relief it was urged the district court erred in not having a hearing prior to the plea of guilty to determine petitioner's mental competency. In that case petitioner was sentenced to the penitentiary upon his pleas of guilty of the offenses of burglary and larceny. Pursuant to then existing statutory direction the trial judge at the time of commitment wrote a letter to the warden of the penitentiary reciting a long history of petitioner's difficulty with the law from childhood as well as a history of insanity of other members of his family and expressing the opinion that petitioner was "doubtless below par mentally." Knowledge of the trial judge concerning the petitioner was further reflected by the following:
On the question as to whether the trial court erred in the Brewer case in not ordering a sanity hearing this court stated:
"On that point we held:
Considering the facts in the case at bar in the light of the foregoing we cannot say as a matter of law that the sentencing court erred in failing to order a sanity hearing for appellant at the time he entered his plea of guilty. Unquestionably appellant had aberrant traits. This was known to the sentencing judge but it does not necessarily follow that appellant was mentally incompetent to stand trial for behavior which society deems objectionable.
Appellant argues that he was insane as a juvenile in 1956 because he was hospitalized and that this insanity must have continued through his Stafford county prosecution in 1961, but he proclaims he is now sane since his discharge from the Larned State Hospital. As pointed out by the trial court in the 1507 proceeding there had never been an adjudication of insanity. The fact that psychiatric treatment was indicated and received by appellant would not render him immune to criminal prosecution because of mental *726 incompetency nor impeach a judgment already reached. Appellant was represented by retained counsel at the preliminary proceedings and by appointed counsel at the trial stage. Both were known to the trial judge as experienced, capable attorneys. No suggestion of mental incompetency to stand trial was made by anyone nor was there any indication of need for the same other than the propensity of appellant for the same type of behavior. This propensity would not affect his capacity to comprehend his position when charged criminally with the offenses of burglary and larceny, to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him and to conduct his defense in a rational manner. The journal entry of his conviction establishes that all the formalities essential to proper arraignment and reception of a plea of guilty were observed, with careful inquiry by the trial court directed toward providence of appellant's plea of guilty. Nothing suggests that appellant was not fully aware of the nature of the proceedings. Our provision for hearing upon mental capacity to stand trial is justly designed for the protection of persons to be tried for crimes when they are incapacitated to defend themselves. However, it is not intended to furnish a technical means of nullifying judgments solemnly reached by judicial process. In order to reverse the judgment on the ground urged by appellant we would be obliged to hold, as a matter of law, that the knowledge the trial court had compelled it to entertain a real doubt with respect to appellant's capacity to make a proper defense. As stated, it was the trial court in whose mind a real doubt of mental capacity to defend had to be created (State v. Collins, supra). Many shades and degrees of mental illness may appear in the disposition of a criminal case. Evaluation thereof is best left in the sound discretion of the trial court which is in much better position to do so than an appellate court. We find no abuse of that discretion here.
Appellant further urges as error the fact that he was not present at the 1507 hearing. We do not agree. The circumstances here are such that the trial court, being the sentencing court, could completely resolve them by drawing upon his own personal knowledge and recollection and the record of the case. In his 1507 motion appellant raised nothing by way of factual allegation or substantiation of his claim, as he is obliged to do, that was not known to the trial court and considered by it. His claimed insanity was based only on factual allegations as to which there was no dispute. *727 Stated another way, there were no controverted issues of fact raised requiring the presence of appellant (see Blacksmith v. State, 195 Kan. 523, 407 P.2d 486; Call v. State, 195 Kan. 688, 408 P.2d 668, cert. den. 384 U.S. 957, 16 L. Ed. 2d 552, 86 S. Ct. 1581, and see, also, Burrow v. United States, 301 F.2d 442, cert. den. 371 U.S. 894, 9 L. Ed. 2d 126, 83 S. Ct. 193; Santos v. United States, 305 F.2d 372; and Wheeler v. United States, 340 F.2d 119).
We have considered other matters complained of but find no merit in them. They were either not raised in the original motion or upon this appeal and hence are not reviewable, or they are covered in that which has already been said and deemed not to warrant further discussion.
The judgment denying relief is affirmed.
APPROVED BY THE COURT.