Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Brian A. PETERS
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1994-10-17
Citations: 643 So. 2d 1222
Docket Number: No. 94-K-0283
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Brian A. PETERS.
Judges: MARCUS and KIMBELL, JJ., dissent and assign reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 643
Pages: 1222–1228

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Brian A. PETERS.
No. 94-K-0283.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Oct. 17, 1994.
Richard P. Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Susan M. Erlanger, New Orleans, for applicant.
Roger W. Jordan, Jr., New Orleans, for respondent.

Opinion:
I,WATSON, Justice.
Brian Peters was indicted for the first degree murder of his estranged wife, Michelle Yarls, in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:30. Peters subsequently pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. After appointment of a sanity commission, the trial court declared Peters incompetent to proceed to trial and remanded Peters to the Feliciana Forensic Facility. After administration of anti-depressant medication and therapy, Peters was ^declared competent for trial. A jury found Peters guilty as charged and recommended a life sentence. The trial court denied defense motions for new trial and for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and sentenced Peters to life imprisonment. The appellate court reversed Peters' conviction, finding the evidence proved by a preponderance that Peters was insane at the time of the offense. State v. Peters, 93-0879 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1/13/94), 630 So.2d 8. This court granted a writ to review that finding. 94-0283 (La. 6/17/94), 638 So.2d 1075. After review of the record, we affirm.
FACTS
Shortly after 11 p.m. on November 15, 1988, Peters kicked a hole in the front door of Joycelyn Yarls' house where Peters' estranged wife, Michelle Yarls, was staying with her mother. Mrs. Yarls and Michelle saw Peters leave their front porch and ride his bicycle to the corner. Mrs. Yarls called the police and told her two other children who lived with her, Patrice and Byron, about the incident. Mrs. Yarls also called Peters' mother and told her she was going to have Peters arrested for damaging her property.
About an hour and a half later, Byron Yarls was waiting for the police outside his mother's house when he saw Peters approaching on his bicycle. |3When Byron noticed Peters carrying a chrome gun, Byron turned and ran around the house. Peters chased Byron and shot at him two or three times. Byron escaped by jumping over a gate and running to a neighbor's house.
Mrs. Yarls heard her daughter, Michelle, scream out, "He is in the house and he has a gun." Mrs. Yarls was looking for a means of defense when she saw Peters in a bedroom doorway. Peters told her he was going to kill her. She tried to close the door but Peters pushed the door open and hit her in the lip and arm. Peters tried to get his gun straight in the confined space, but Mrs. Yarls pushed him. Peters fell as the gun fired. Mrs. Yarls thought she was shot and ran down the street to call the police from her sister's house.
Michelle ran into her sister's bedroom to tell Patrice that Peters was in the house and for Patrice and her two-year-old nephew to hide in the closet. Both women would not fit, so Michelle and her nephew stayed in the closet while Patrice hid under blankets on the bed. When Patrice heard a gunshot, she got up to investigate and met Peters in the doorway. Patrice told Peters that Michelle had left the house. Peters pointed the gun at her and Patrice ran outside.
Byron saw Peters leave the house smoking a cigarette. Another sister who lived nearby, Karen Yarls Brookings, was outside and asked Peters what 14he had done as he exited the Yarls house. Peters only pointed his gun at her, smiled and rode slowly down the street on his bicycle.
Peters told his mother he had killed Mrs. Yarls and Michelle. Peters' mother called to inquire about them. Mrs. Yarls told Peters' mother she would call her back. Michelle was found lying dead on the floor, partly inside the bedroom closet. An autopsy revealed she died from two gunshot wounds to her chest.
Commitment orders for Peters had been obtained by members of Peters' family prior to the shooting. On July 18, 1988, Peters' sister, Bridget Peters Collins, signed a commitment order asserting in part that Peters had a gun and abused drugs, although she had never seen him abuse drugs. She did so after being informed that the city would act on the order only if she asserted Peters was a drug abuser and was in need of counseling, rehabilitation or detoxification. She asserted Peters should be considered violent to him-, self and to others. Peters was not picked up at this time. On November 10, 1988, Peters' father sought another commitment order. In addition to allegations of drug use and past mental illness, he alleged that Peters had made suicidal', statements and was believed to have a gun. At that time, Peters was crying all the time, was not sleeping or eating, and seemed very unstable to his family. |5On November 13, 1988, three days before Michelle Yarls' shooting, Peters' father again sought a commitment order for Peters stating Peters was a danger to himself and others and had been threatening suicide.
Police officer Harry Parker and his partner had been dispatched to serve 'commitment orders on Peters at his mother's house on November 16, 1988. Peters was initially hostile to the police but calmed down when he recognized Officer Parker, whom Peters had known for approximately ten years. As the officers placed Peters in their patrol car, the police radio reported on an aggravated burglary where the subject kicked a door in or was shooting. Peters told the officers the call referred to his girlfriend's mother's house a block away and that he had committed the offense. During the ride to Mrs. Yarls' house, Peters asked the officers, "Did she die?" When the officers turned to look at him, Peters said, "My wife." Peters also told the officers the gun and his bicycle were on the porch of his house, also a block away. These were the only intelligible comments made by Peters. Officer Parker later stated Peters was "talking out of his head," "wasn't making any sense most of the time," and "was doing a lot of gibberish."
Officer Parker found Peters' bicycle and a silver automatic pistol lying on the porch of Peters' residence. Peters was transported to the scene of the leshooting where he was positively identified and arrested. Officer Parker did not know if Peters could understood his constitutional rights when read them.
A sanity commission was appointed, its members eventually examining Peters on four separate occasions each. A hearing was held January 19, 1989. Dr. Ritter examined Peters on December 28, 1988, and concluded he was insane at the time of the offense and was not competent to proceed to trial or assist in his defense. This conclusion was shared by Dr. Medina, the other sanity commission member. Based on the doctors' findings, the trial court found Peters incompetent and remanded him to the Feliciana Forensic Facility. Peters was not transferred immediately but stayed in parish prison where antidepressant medication was administered to him. On September 17, 1990, the parish prison psychiatrist, Dr. Juarez, notified the court he felt Peters was faking mental illness and had the competency to proceed to trial.
Based on this information, the sanity commission agreed that Peters should be transferred to Feliciana so that he could be continuously observed and treated. Doctors at Feliciana administered anti-depressant medication and therapy to Peters. After comprehensive evaluation and treatment, the doctors at Feliciana informed the court Peters was competent for trial. Another sanity commission hearing was held. Drs. Ritter and Medina determined Peters was |7now competent to proceed to trial but, at the time of the offense, Peters was unable to appreciate the usual, natural and probable consequences of his acts; he was unable to distinguish right from wrong; and he was insane at the time of the offense due to his suffering from a major depressive illness. According to Dr. Ritter, Dr. Juarez also concurred in this finding.
The defense presented this evidence to the jury at trial. The state presented no expert testimony to rebut Drs. Ritter and Medina but elicited testimony on cross-examination regarding malingering and the fact that a person could be depressed after the death of a loved one. The state presented testimony that Peters had called the paternal grandmother of Michelle's child a week prior to the shooting to warn her to keep the child away from Michelle, and the fact that no other persons were shot, as evidence that Peters' actions had been considered and rational. The jury found Peters guilty as charged and recommended a sentence of life imprisonment. The trial judge denied Peters' motions for new trial and for post-verdict judgment of acquittal and sentenced him to life imprisonment without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. On appeal, Peters asserted the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial. The court of appeal agreed, reversing his conviction, Isfinding that the evidence presented at trial proved by a preponderance that Peters was insane at the time of the offense.
LAW AND DISCUSSION
A legal presumption exists that a defendant is sane and responsible for his actions. LSA-R.S. 15:432. This presumption is re-buttable, however, and the defendant has the burden of establishing the defense of insanity at the time of the offense by a preponderance of the evidence. LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 652. Legal insanity is proved if the circumstances indicate that a mental disease or mental defect rendered the offender incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong with reference to the conduct in question. LSA-R.S. 14:14.
In reviewing a claim of insufficiency of evidence in regard to a defense of insanity, this court applies the test set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), to determine whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found that the defendant had not proved by a preponderance of the evidence that he was insane at the time of the offense. State v. Nealy, 450 So.2d 634 (La. 1984); State v. Price, 403 So.2d 660 (La. 1981); State v. Claibon, 396 So.2d 770 (La. 1981); State v. Roy, 395 So.2d 664 (La.1981).
19The defendant presented the expert testimony of both members of the sanity commission, Drs. Ritter and Medina, to establish his insanity at the time of this offense. Dr. Ritter testified that even Dr. Juarez, the only doctor to question whether Peters was faking a mental illness, eventually concurred in the sanity commission's findings. In addition, Peters was administered anti-depressant medication for a considerable length of time before he was competent to stand trial. The continuous doses of medication, and the fact that he responded to the medication and therapy, are evidence of the measure of Peters' insanity. See Roy, 395 So.2d at 668. The state presented no expert testimony to rebut this evidence. Although the state may rely on lay evidence to rebut the experts' conclusions, see Price, 403 So.2d at 663; State v. Liner, 397 So.2d 506, 509 (La.1981); Claibon, 395 So.2d at 774, review of the lay testimony shows it is insufficient to support a jury finding that Peters was sane at the time of the shooting.
The circumstances of the shooting itself are neutral on the issue of sanity or insanity. Although the state argues the fact that only Peters' estranged wife was killed shows a considered choice of Peters', the testimony established Peters shot at various members of the Yarls family and threatened others with his weapon. The fact that some family members escaped through good fortune lipor bad shooting does not establish Peters' sanity. Peters' actions of lighting a cigarette, smiling and riding away on his bicycle are likewise neutral as to whether he was sane or insane. Roy, 395 So.2d at 669; State v. hozard, 542 So.2d 707 (La.App. 4 Cir.1989), writ denied, 548 So.2d 1245 (La. 1989).
The state suggests a possible motive for the shooting could have been revenge for an earlier altercation when Michelle blinded Peters' right eye. However, this incident occurred almost a year prior to the shooting and there was no evidence connecting the two events. While the testimony of the paternal grandmother of Michelle's child might suggest forethought in harming Michelle, it alone is not sufficient to rebut the expert and lay testimony regarding Peters' insanity at the time of the offense.
Peters' sister testified about his actions just prior to the shooting which led his family to try to have him committed. Officer Parker testified he told Peters he was there to pick Peters up on the commitment papers and that Peters "pretty much knew my reasons for being there." The fact that Peters assumed the officers were there to serve a commitment order, and not because he had just shot his estranged wife, shows he was unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Peters made no attempt to hide the murder weapon but left it on his front porch, which he disclosed to the officers. The officers found Inmost of Peters' conversation unintelligible "gibberish." Officer Parker testified he was not certain Peters understood his constitutional rights when they were read to him.
CONCLUSION
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the jury's verdict on the issue of sanity was contrary to the preponderance of evidence. The court of appeal correctly reversed the defendant's conviction and sentence and remanded the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.
AFFIRMED.
MARCUS and KIMBELL, JJ., dissent and assign reasons.
NORRIS, Judge, dissents for the reasons assigned by KIMBALL, J.
. Judge William Norris, III, Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, sitting by assignment in place of Justice James L. Dennis; Judge Felicia Toney Williams, Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, participating as Associate Justice Pro Tempore, effective September 1, 1994.
Calogero, C.J., recused. Rule IV, Part 2, § 3.