Title: State v. Shaw

State: arizona

Issuer: Arizona Supreme Court

Document:

106 Ariz. 103 (1970) 471 P.2d 715 STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Robert SHAW, Appellant. No. 2088. Supreme Court of Arizona, In Banc. June 18, 1970. Rehearing Denied July 14, 1970. *104 Gary K. Nelson, Atty. Gen., by Carl Waag, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee. Waterfall, Economidis, Falk & Caldwell, by Peter Economidis, Tucson, for appellant. McFARLAND, Justice. Appellant Robert Henry Shaw hereinafter called the defendant was found guilty of the crime of robbery and sentenced to not less than six nor more than ten years in the Arizona State Prison. From this judgment and sentence he appeals. Defendant was charged with the robbery on January 2, 1969, of the Community Finance Company, located at 3950 East Speedway, Tucson, Arizona. On January 3, 1969, defendant was arrested, a criminal complaint filed against him, and a preliminary hearing set for January 14, 1969. At the date set for the hearing defendant was confined in the psychiatric section of the Pima County Hospital following an attempt by him to take his own life by slashing his wrists. A Pima County welfare worker filed a petition for civil commitment, and a hearing determined that the defendant should be hospitalized. On January 17, 1969, a motion for mental examination and for immediate hearing was filed, pursuant to the provisions of § 13-1621, A.R.S., and two doctors testified that the defendant was suffering from a mental illness which rendered him unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or to assist counsel in his defense. Defendant was accordingly committed to the Arizona State Hospital until such time as it was found that he was capable of understanding and could assist with his own defense. On April 18, 1969, the defendant was returned to the Superior Court of Pima County to stand trial on the offense. On April 23, 1969, a second motion for mental examination was filed on behalf of the defendant, and a hearing was held May 14, 1969. At this hearing, Doctor Treptow and Doctor Van Antwerp testified that Robert Shaw was able to understand the nature of the proceedings against him and to assist counsel in his defense, and the court ordered that a preliminary hearing be held immediately. The defendant was bound over at the preliminary hearing and arraigned on June 10, 1969, at which time a plea of not guilty was entered. On July 17, 1969, notice was filed by defendant that he intended to establish at his trial that he was insane or mentally defective at the time the alleged robbery was committed. Pursuant to the procedures set out in § 13-1621.01, A.R.S., separate trials were held first on the issue of guilt or innocence, and the second on the question of the defendant's sanity. The defendant was found guilty at the first trial, and at the second he was found to be sane at the time the act was committed. Defendant contends that five errors were made during course of his trial. *105 He first contends that the trial court committed error in admitting over objection of the defense certain statements made to Dr. Carl S. Wellish, staff psychiatrist at the Arizona State Hospital, who interviewed defendant during the time defendant was confined in the State Hospital. Defendant asserts that these statements were privileged and not admissible under § 13-1802, A.R.S., which states: We feel that we must agree with defendant's position that the admission of the testimony of Dr. Wellish, with regard to certain acts related to him by the defendant while Dr. Wellish examined him, was prejudicial error by the court. In State v. Evans, 104 Ariz. 434, 454 P.2d 976, tried before the adoption of § 13-1621.01, A.R.S., we held: The statute itself as it presently exists and interpreted by State v. Evans, supra, would prevent the use of statements made by defendant to Dr. Wellish in the trial against him for the determination of his guilt or innocence. Should there be any distinction in the second trial in which he has pled not guilty by reason of insanity as to the admission of testimony of the doctor as to statements made by the defendant to him which would tend to show that he remembered the commission of the act? The test of legal insanity, as held by this Court, has two elements The doctor's testimony in regard to the acts related by the defendant to him would have a bearing upon the guilt by reason of insanity under this test just as it did upon the commission of the act itself, for the reason that it would tend to show that he understood the nature and quality of the act at the time of its commission. A defendant if he knew this would have a tendency not to confide in the physician, and a psychiatrist would be handicapped in the treatment of the patient. The purpose of the privilege would thereby be defeated. A patient committed to the Arizona State Hospital under the circumstances of the instant case should have the same privilege as a patient under treatment by a physician in a private hospital. The act does not recognize any distinction. The test is whether a physician-patient relationship exists. State v. Sullivan, 60 Wash. 2d 214, 373 P.2d 474. If a patient is examined believing that the purpose of the examination is for treatment then the patient has a right to rely upon the confidence imposed in the physician. Any other holding would permit the privilege accorded the patient to be taken from him by trick or fraud. It is clear in the instant case that treatment, not observation alone, was included in the purposes for which defendant was held in the State Hospital. This is clearly indicated by the nature of Dr. Wellish's testimony, as follows: In Taylor v. United States, 95 U.S.App. D.C. 373, 222 F.2d 398, the court held: In the Taylor case, supra, the defendant was charged with robbery, housebreaking, and grand larceny. The District of Columbia had, at that time, a statute similar to ours. While we are aware that some jurisdictions do not follow this rule in criminal cases[1], we feel that it is the better and more just rule, and, since our statute does not exclude criminal cases from the privilege, we hold that allowing the doctor's testimony regarding specific acts was reversible error, and the testimony of Dr. Wellish was improperly admitted in evidence. We accordingly hold that the admission of this testimony requires a new trial. This, then, presents the question of the procedure to be followed. The defendant raised the question of the constitutionality of the procedure set forth in § 13-1621.01, A.R.S., stating that "the procedures outlined in the statute might produce a foreseen and undesirable substantive effect." The principal argument presented by the defendant was that the procedure was unconstitutional in that the Arizona statutes vest in the Arizona Supreme Court the exclusive power to make rules relative to all procedural matters in any court of the State. As admitted in defendant's reply brief, this was passed on in State v. Blazak, 105 Ariz. 216, 462 P.2d 84, in which we held that, following the adoption of this constitutional provision in 1960, the power *108 to make procedural rules is now vested exclusively in this Court. However, we further held that: However, in so holding, we did not pass upon the constitutional aspects of the statute which are raised by the facts in the instant case, and the difficulty of the procedure presented by the defendant in his brief particularly calling attention to the presentation of "undesirable substantive effect." The "undesirable substantive effect" urged by the defendant is particularly presented in the instant case by the question as to what the remand by this Court would require. Would a new jury be empaneled to try the case, in which all of the evidence in regard to the commission of the crime as well as evidence pertaining to his sanity again be presented? Or should evidence be presented only pertaining to the defendant's sanity as involved in the "plea of not guilty by reason of insanity." This requires an examination of the procedure which was not passed upon in the case of State v. Blazak, supra. The act itself[2] provides for two trials No procedure is set forth for guidance in the determination of this issue. The second trial To follow such procedure would mean that the court could not consider the evidence of insanity at the first trial. This is the only reasonable interpretation; otherwise, the procedure in the second trial would be duplication and redundant. Under "B" it is also provided that the multiple-trial concept shall not affect the traditional provisions of burden of proof, or § 13-131, A.R.S., which provides: The bifurcated trial would require the jury to find the intent or the intention solely from the circumstances connected with the offense, as provided in § 13-131, A.R.S., and the question of sound mind would have to be presented at the second trial which gives rise to the question of whether this is due process of law not only in regard to intent but also in the charge of murder, for example, in regard to the issues of premeditation and malice aforethought. If an individual is insane he would not be able to intend an act, nor would he be able to premeditate or have malice aforethought. Not only is there a question of due process of law, there is an additional question presented by a conflict in the law as to whether § 13-131, A.R.S., could be divided in the trial and made applicable partly to Paragraph B and partly to Paragraph C of § 13-1621.01, A.R.S. Only three other States at the present time have provision for bifurcated trial California, Colorado, and Texas. In the first case involving the question after the adoption of the California statute, People v. Troche, 206 Cal. 35, 273 P. 767, and following cases, the court, in passing upon the constitutionality of the statute, held that it was a mere procedural matter and that the act was constitutional. However, Justice Preston vigorously dissented from this view, stating: *110 Then, when People v. Wells, 33 Cal. 2d 330, 202 P.2d 53, cert. den. 338 U.S. 836, 70 S. Ct. 43, 94 L. Ed. 510, came along, the court was presented with the question of whether it was due process to require the jury to pass upon the requisite intent without permitting evidence of the capacity of the defendant to form an intent. So the court held that it was permissible to introduce evidence in regard to the defendant's capacity to form an intent in the first trial in regard to his guilt or innocence, and leave the question of insanity under the M'Naghten rule for the second trial. In so holding the court said: In an article on the bifurcated trial in the California Law Review, it was stated: The article then calls attention to the recommendation of the California Special Crime Study Commission on Criminal Law and Procedure, in its final report in 1949, in which the majority of the Commission recommended that the provision of the penal code requiring a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity be retained but that when such a plea and a plea of not guilty are both entered the issues raised by both shall be tried simultaneously. In another article in the California Western Law Review on the developments since the Wells case, the "Gradual Decay" of the procedure in the bifurcated trial is discussed. In the final determination, the question is asked in the article "What Steps Should the Court Take to Solve the Dilemma?" "IV. WHAT STEPS SHOULD THE COURT TAKE TO SOLVE THE DILEMMA? Then, in the conclusion of the article, it is stated: In Texas, the courts, in order to comply with the due-process test, permit the passing on the question of insanity if requested by the defendant before the trial on the guilty or innocence plea, and also permit it to be raised again at the trial on guilt. So, in this way, the Texas courts have avoided violating the due-process clause. And, in Colorado, the courts allow the question of mental capacity to be raised at the guilt-and-innocence trial. Courts, in passing upon what constitutes due process, have generally not attempted to define in a few words what is meant by the term. In Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S. Ct. 205, 96 L. Ed. 183, the court described due process as follows: A brief, more specific definition is: Can this Court say that it is just to pass upon the guilt and innocence of a defendant without allowing all of the evidence available to determine whether he had the mental capacity to commit the crime? The bifurcated trial has been fraught with conflicts and difficulty of administration wherever its use has been attempted. As pointed out in the California Western Law Review, the courts in California have gradually picked away at its legal inconsistencies, and in doing this the objectives have been defeated by altering the rules of evidence to admit the very things the system was enacted to restrict from admission namely, the admission of evidence of insanity at the first trial. Texas and Colorado have adopted a cumbersome double-trial on the same issues in order to comply with due process. To prohibit the introduction of any or all the evidence bearing on proof of insanity at the trial of guilt or innocence would deprive a defendant of the opportunity of rebutting intent, premeditation, and malice, because an insane person could have none. The first trial then would involve only proof that an act of a criminal nature had been committed, and that the defendant committed it. In effect, this gives rise to a presumption of intent, premeditation, or malice which runs counter to the common-law and constitutional concepts of criminal law. The second trial is limited solely to the question of legal insanity, the guilt of the defendant having already been determined. There is no provision, nor realistically could there be, to determine also intent, premeditation, or malice in reduction of the degree of the crime. Thus, the presumption raised in the first trial becomes an irrebuttable presumption. Such a presumption is in violation of due process, as was pointed out in Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S. Ct. 240, 255, 96 L.Ed.2d 288: For this Court to comply with due process, the statute would have to be interpreted as allowing admission of all the evidence at the first trial but to do this it emasculates the act in such a way that it would not be carrying out the purpose for which it was intended. The adoption of the reasonable interpretation of the act is a violation of due process, particularly since the lack of procedural due process adversely affects substantive rights to a fair trial. We therefore accordingly hold that the act is in violation of due process as provided in our own State constitution and the Constitution of the United States. The procedure provided for prior to its adoption is hereby re-instated. The judgment in both trials is set aside, and the case is remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this decision. The defendant contends that the court erred in not holding a hearing outside the presence of the jury to determine whether the identification of the defendant by four witnesses was tainted by previous out-of-court identification procedures. The record is not clear as to the discussion in chambers between counsel and the court in regard to this matter; however, this question probably will not occur at the next trial because the court will undoubtedly follow State v. Dessureault, 104 Ariz. 380, 453 P.2d 951. *114 The other questions presented likewise will probably not occur at the new trial. Judgment reserved and the case remanded. LOCKWOOD, C.J., STRUCKMEYER, V.C.J., and UDALL, and HAYS, JJ., concur. [1] State v. Campbell, 146 Mont. 251, 405 P.2d 978 (1965); State v. Dean, 69 Utah 268, 254 P. 142 (1927); People v. Gonzales. 182 Cal. App. 2d 276, 5 Cal. Rptr. 920 (1960); State v. Betts, 235 Or. 127, 384 P.2d 198, 7 A.L.R.3d 1445 (1963); State v. Bounds, 74 Idaho 136, 258 P.2d 751 (1953); State v. Coburn. 82 Idaho 437, 354 P.2d 751 (1960). [2] 13-1621.01. Two trials where defense of not guilty by reason of insanity asserted. A. In any case where the defense of not guilty by reason of insanity is asserted, two trials shall be set unless good cause for a single trial is shown. B. The first trial shall determine the issue of guilt or innocence and, if appropriate, the degree of the crime. The multiple trial concept shall not affect the traditional burden of proof or the applicability of § 13-131. At the discretion of the court, the jury may be informed that there may be two trials and what issues will be decided at each. C. If the defendant is found guilty at the first trial, there shall be a second trial following promptly after the first trial. At the second trial, the jury shall consider the defense of insanity and, if appropriate, the defendant's present mental condition with regard to commitment to a mental institution. The court may convene a separate hearing for the purpose of receiving evidence relevant to the issue of punishment, and at such hearing the punishment in capital cases shall be fixed. D. At the second trial, the following interrogatories shall be submitted to the jury: 1. Was the defendant insane at the time the offense was committed? 2. If your answer to interrogatory No. 1 is affirmative, does the defendant's present mental condition justify commitment to an appropriate mental institution (to be released only after a determination by a jury that he is no longer a danger to himself or to others.) E. In a separate hearing for the purpose of receiving evidence relevant to the issue of punishment the question to be answered is `what punishment is to be fixed life imprisonment ____? death ____?' F. If the answer to interrogatory No. 1 is negative, the court shall sentence the defendant according to law and, in capital cases, in accordance with the answer to the question in subsection E. G. If the answer to interrogatory No. 2 is negative, the court shall enter a judgment of not guilty by reason of insanity and release the defendant. H. If the answer to interrogatory No. 2 is affirmative, the court shall enter a judgment of not guilty by reason of insanity and commit the defendant to an appropriate mental institution, making provisions for security.