Case Name: Commonwealth v. Tomlinson, Appellant
Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1971-12-20
Citations: 446 Pa. 241
Docket Number: Appeal, No. 346
Parties: Commonwealth v. Tomlinson, Appellant.
Judges: Before Bell, O. J., Jones, Eagen, O’Brien, Roberts, Pomeroy and Barbieri, JJ.
Reporter: Pennsylvania State Reports
Volume: 446
Pages: 241–263

Head Matter:
Commonwealth v. Tomlinson, Appellant.
Argued January 7, 1971.
Before Bell, O. J., Jones, Eagen, O’Brien, Roberts, Pomeroy and Barbieri, JJ.
Peter J. Verderame and S annuel G. Moyer, for appellant.
Stephen B. Harris, Assistant District Attorney, with him Ward F. Clark, District Attorney, for Commonwealth, appellee.
December 20, 1971:

Opinion:
Opinion by
Mr. Chief Justice Bell,
On July 15, 1966, Lucy T. Husvar was found dead in her apartment in Bristol, Bucks County. Appellant Francis Lynn Tomlinson, Jr. was arrested and indicted for the murder, as well as for rape, arson, burglary, robbery by violence, robbery, larceny and receiving stolen goods. Appellant was brought to trial on the murder indictment and, while represented by counsel, jjleaded guilty. A three-Judge panel, consisting of Judges Bom.Br, Biester and Sattekthwaitb, found appellant guilty of murder in the first degree, and fixed the penalty at life imprisonment.
We shall set forth the evidence, including appellant's own testimony, which established the sordid facts in this case. On the afternoon of July 15, 1966, Lucy T. Husvar left her place of employment at approximately 4 o'clock and purchased some groceries and Salem cigarettes at a local grocery store. At approximately 8:15 that evening, a long-time friend called at the victim's home, and after receiving no response to his knock at the front door, went to the rear of the house where he observed smoke coming through a basement window. He alerted the neighbors and a fire alarm was sounded. Several of the neighbors broke the locked door at the front of the building and went to the cellar steps, where they saw "a ball of flame" coming from the bottom of the cellar steps. They doused the flame with water and immediately discovered that the flame and smoke had emanated from a pillow which had been placed over the face and head of the deceased victim at the bottom of the cellar steps.
The police investigation revealed that the victim's nude body was found at the bottom of the cellar steps with her pedal pushers and panties around her right ankle. The victim's house and car keys were found on the basement floor by the side of her body and her handbag, with the wallet missing, was found on a kitchen chair. Large quantities of blood were found on the landing at the top of the cellar stairs, and blood and hair samples were present on the baseboards. Blood was also present on each of the stair treads, indicating that the body had collapsed on the landing and was pulled down the cellar steps by the feet. A bloody latent fingerprint, discovered on the door at the landing area, was proved to be that of the appellant.
The Philadelphia Medical Examiner testified that there were at least ten deep wounds around the head and face and burned tissue on the upper chest and shoulders. Seminal fluid was found in the area of the vagina and thigh. The cause of death, according to the Medical Examiner, was severe head injuries, with contributing smoke inhalation.
A witness identified appellant walking a short distance in the direction of the victim's house shortly after 8 P.M. on the night of the murder. Four other witnesses, including a Catholic priest and a Bristol Township detective, saw and talked with appellant near the scene of the crime between 8:40 P.M. and 9 o'clock P.M. All of these witnesses described appellant as being "quite cool," and not nervous when he identified himself to the four witnesses as the victim's handyman.
At approximately 1:45 A.M., two police officers went to appellant's apartment armed with an arrest warrant and a search warrant. Appellant opened the door after a knock and greeted the police officers 'with the words, "I've been expecting you." The police officers searched the apartment and their search revealed a shirt with bloodstains and burn marks, as well as trousers and shoes all bearing traces of blood. The bloodstains on the shirt and trousers were analyzed and found to be Type B blood, the same as that of the victim, whereas a blood sample taken from appellant revealed that his was Type A. Charred material was also found in scrapings taken from his shoes. A search of appellant's car revealed a pack of Salem cigarettes and a partly filled can of lighter fluid in the glove compartment.
Appellant was warned of Ms Constitutional rights, first at the time of arrest in his apartment, and later v hen he arrived at the police station at approximately 2:45 A.M. Appellant was interrogated by the police for a period of time, during which he made no admissions and denied any knowledge of the crime. At approximately 7 A.M., he asked the police for a pencil and some paper, and stated, "I'd better write this, you'd never believe it if I told it to you." Appellant then handwrote a full confession.
At his trial, appellant, while (we repeat) represented by counsel, changed his plea to guilty, and then took the stand and gave a full statement under oath, which substantially corroborated Ms handwritten confession. He admitted entering the victim's house, strik ing the victim with a blackjack, taking the wallet and Salem cigarettes, and raping the victim at the bottom of the cellar stairs. He testified that he put a pillow over the victim's face and tried to suffocate her. Failing in this, he stated that he poured the lighter fluid on the pillow and set the pillow afire in an attempt to insure her death. He also testified that after having taken the money from the victim's wallet, he threw the empty wallet into the nearby Delaware Canal, where it was later found by the police.
Appellant raises three questions in this appeal: (1) was it error for the Court below to admit and consider certain incriminating statements and the written confession made by him in determining and finding first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) was there sufficient evidence to establish murder in the first degree if Ms incriminating statements and written confession were excluded; and (3) was it error to exclude expert psychiatric testimony on a guilty plea when the Court was considering not the penalty, but the degree of guilt.
The issues raised and the contentions made by appellant are completely devoid of merit.
In Commonwealth v. Commander, 436 Pa. 532, 260 A. 2d 773, we set forth the well-settled test for sufficiency of evidence (page 538) : " £It is hornbook law that the test of the sufficiency of the evidence—irrespective of whether it is direct or circumstantial, or both—is whether, accepting as true all the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom, upon which if believed the jury could properly have based its verdict, it is sufficient in law to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the crime or crimes of which he has been convicted. Commonwealth v. Finnie, 415 Pa. 166, 202 A. 2d 85; Commonwealth v. Burns, 409 Pa. 619, 634, 187 A. 2d 552; Commonwealth v. Kravitz, 400 Pa. 198, 161 A. 2d 861; Commonwealth v. Williams, 432 Pa. 557, 248 A. 2d 301 (1968).' " See also Commonwealth v. Frye, 433 Pa. 473, 252 A. 2d 580.
The evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt appellant's commission of a willful, deliberate and premeditated murder, as well as a murder in the commission of a felony, was overwhelming. In addition to all the direct and circumstantial evidence hereinabove stated, appellant's own testimony on the witness stand, in which he testified to and admitted virtually all the facts contained in his written confession, proved him unquestionably guilty of first-degree murder.
Appellant next contends that the felony-murder rule should not apply if the intention to perpetrate the felony was not conceived until after the actual killing. There is no merit in this contention. This Court has several times decided that if a homicide occurs in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate a robbery or other statutorily-enumerated felonies, a conviction of murder in the first degree will be sustained regardless of when the design to commit the robbery or other felony was conceived or the felony committed. Commonwealth v. Slavik, 437 Pa. 354, 261 A. 2d 583; Commonwealth v. Wilson, 431 Pa. 21, 244 A. 2d 734; Commonwealth v. Hart, 403 Pa. 652, 170 A. 2d 850; Commonwealth v. Stelma, 327 Pa. 317, 192 Atl. 906.
Appellant's next contention is that psychiatric evidence is admissible, in the determination of the degree of guilt,* for the purpose of proving that appellant did not act and was incapable of acting with deliberation and premeditation. This contention is without merit. See Commonwealth v. Woodhouse, 401 Pa. 242, 164 A. 2d 98 and cases cited therein; Commonwealth v. Phelan, 427 Pa. 265, 234 A. 2d 540; Commonwealth v. Ahearn, 421 Pa. 311, 218 A. 2d 561; Commonwealth v. Tyrrell, 405 Pa. 210, 174 A. 2d 852; Commonwealth v. Melton, 406 Pa. 343, 178 A. 2d 728; Commonwealth v. Carroll, 412 Pa. 525, 194 A. 2d 911; Commonwealth v. Rightnour, 435 Pa. 104, 253 A. 2d 644; Commonwealth v. Weinstein, 442 Pa. 70, 274 A. 2d 182 (where the Court was evenly divided).
Appellant further contends that Pennsylvania's long-established M'Naghten test of insanity should be overruled or, in any event, that the testimony of psychiatrists as to the mental condition and/or insanity of a defendant should be admitted in determining guilt, and not restricted to admission and consideration in determining the penalty. We disagree with all of these contentions.
In Commonwealth v. Woodhouse, 401 Pa., supra, defendant was convicted by the jury of murder in the first degree and punishment fixed at life imprisonment. The only defense was insanity. Two psychiatrists testified for the defense that at the time of the killing and for some time previous defendant was suffering from insanity. A third psychiatrist testified that at times the defendant failed to know the difference between right and wrong. Mr. Justice Eagen, in a very analytical and exceptionally able Opinion, reviewed the M'Naghten Eule and sustained it, and pertinently said (pages 250-251, 254, 255, 258-259) :
"It has been stated, reiterated and reaffirmed again and again. In Commonwealth v. Neill (1949), supra, Mr. Justice Horace Stern, later Chief Justice, speaking for a unanimous court, said at 514: £. . . insanity within the legal meaning of that term, [is] inability, from disease of the mind to understand the nature and quality of. the act and to distinguish between right and wrong with respect to it.'
ÍÍ
"As late as March 16, 1959, Mr. Justice Bell speaking for this Court, said: 'Defendant, as other defendants repeatedly have, asks us to reject or change the rule laid down in M'Naghten's Case, 8 Eng. Rep. 718, which was adopted as the law of Pennsylvania in Commonwealth v. Mosler, 4 Pa. 264. These cases established the so-called "right and wrong" test for insanity, when insanity is raised as a defense by a defendant. Defendant desires us to adopt some undefined psychiatric test. Once more, we refuse to do so. The M'Naghten case rule or "the right and wrong test" has been repeatedly reaffirmed by this Court. . . : Commonwealth v. Novak, supra, at 210.
"If any rule of law is founded on long established precedent in Pennsylvania, this is it.
«
"Many psychiatrists, who are very harsh critics of 'M'Naghten,' attack each other's theories even more vehemently.
" . . If the question of what is a mental disease or defect is a psychiatric one, then the law has abdicated its function of determining criminal responsibility to the psychiatrist and the jury will have to accept the unopposed psychiatric view of mental disease or defect. The test will differ with the prevailing psychiatric winds of the moment': State v. Lucas, supra, at 68 (152 A. 2d)."
U
"The protection of society is our paramount concern. . . . Until some rule, other than 'M'Naghten,' based on a firm foundation in scientific fact for effective operation in the protection and security of society, is forthcoming, we shall adhere to it. We shall not blindly follow the opinion of psychiatric and medical experts and substitute for a legal principle which has proven durable and practicable for decades, vague rules that provide no positive standards."
In Commonwealth v. Phelan, 427 Pa., supra, defendant while represented by family-retained counsel pleaded guilty to two murders, and, after a hearing, he was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. He contended, inter alia, that at the time he entered his guilty pleas his mental condition was such that he was unable to comprehend the nature and effect of his acts. The majority Opinion of the Court said (pages 278-279) : "During the hearing to determine the degree of guilt, the court refused to admit medical testimony tending to establish that at the time of the commission of the crimes Phelan lacked the mental ability to form the ixxtent to kill, a necessary ingredient of first degree murder, and lacked substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. This was not error. See Commonwealth v. Ahearn, 421 Pa. 311, 218 A. 2d 561 (1966), and Commonwealth v. Woodhouse, 401 Pa. 242, 164 A. 2d 98 (1960). As stated in Commonwealth v. Ahearn, supra, at 324, 218 A. 2d at 568, such evidence is not admissible '(1) to absolve or exculpate and acquit a defendant of crime, or (2) to prove a lack of specific intent to kill, and thereby prohibit a verdict of murder of the first degree.' See also, Commonwealth v. Carroll, 412 Pa. 525, 194 A. 2d 911 (1963). Moreover, this testimony was properly received in evidence and considered by the court in mitigation of the penalty during the hearing to determine the sentences to be imposed."
In Commonwealth v. Ahearn, 421 Pa. 311, 218 A. 2d 561, defendaxxt, while represented by three lawyers, pleaded guilty to the murder indictment. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Court, in an Opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Bell, joined in by three other members of the Court, said (pages 314-315, 319-320, 324-325) : "We note at the outset that defendant did ixot take the witness stand; instead he relied upon the testimony of two psychiatrists and one psychologist who, in the last analysis, based their opinions to a large extent upon defendant's self-serving, unsworn, uncorroborated statements to them about his prior life and his actions and reactions, some of which are fantastic . . . In other words, defendant contends that because of his mental condition, his excitement, and his reactions when women were involved, it was impossible for him to form a specific intent to take a human life and consequently lie could not be convicted of any crime higher than murder in the second degree. . . .
"The testimony of defendant's experts, if believed, would establish an irresistible impulse to violence in certain sexual situations. Psychiatric names or definitions vary or change almost as rapidly as 'bridge conventions' ; and the use of terms such as 'irresistible impulse,' or 'diminished responsibility', or 'inability to control oneself', or 'temporary partial insanity', or various kinds of psychopaths, are not sufficient to change what the psychiatrists used to call and what, in legal language, has always been called, an irresistible impulse.
ii
"In Commonwealth v. Melton, 406 Pa. 343, 178 A. 2d 728, the Court aptly said (pages 349-350) :
" 'There is not the remotest merit to defendant's contention that because of his deficient mentality, the Court did not have the power to convict him of murder in the first degree.
" 'In Commonwealth v. Smith, 405 Pa. 456, we sustained a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree with penalty of death, even though defendant was a sexual psychopath. We there said (pages 459-460) : "This Court has sustained a verdict of first degree murder with penalty of death where defendant allegedly had an irresistible impulse, was a moron or a mental defective or a sexual pervert or a psychopathic personality or had been previously confined in the hospital for the criminal insane for 14 years, or was a schizophrenic psychopath or was an unstable, mentally defective moron, or was feeble-minded: Commonwealth v. Leamer, 386 Pa. 485, 126 A. 2d 409; Commonwealth v. Cole, 384 Pa. 40, 119 A. 2d 253; Commonwealth v. Gossard, 383 Pa. 239, 117 A. 2d 902; Commonwealth v. Elliott, 371 Pa. 70, 89 A. 2d 782; Commonwealth v. Carluccetti, 369 Pa. 190, 85 A. 2d 391; Commonwealth v. Givens, 363 Pa. 141, 69 A. 2d 142; Commonwealth v. Neill, 362 Pa. 507, 67 A. 2d 376; Commonwealth v. Howell, 338 Pa. 577, 13 A. 2d 521; Commonwealth v. Hawk, 328 Pa. 417, 196 A. 5; Commonwealth v. Stabinsky, 313 Pa. 231, 169 A. 439.» '
"Defendant in the instant case makes the same contentions as were made in the aforesaid cases, but instead of calling himself a mental defective or a sexual pervert, or some kind of a psychopath, or that he had an irresistible impulse, he contends that his is a case of 'diminished responsibility.' By whatever name psychiatrists, or doctors or lawyers call it, an inability to control one's self under certain circumstances is legally insufficient to justify an acquittal of murder, or a reduction of a first degree murder killing to second degree.
"In Commonwealth v. Tyrrell, 405 Pa., supra, the Court sustained a verdict of first degree murder with penalty of life imprisonment and pertinently said (pages 219-221) : 'As a result Dr. Coleman determined that the defendant was psychotic since teen age and that he was so emotionally upset on March 7,1960, that "he would react to an impulse to pick up a loaded shotgun resting at his elbow and fire it at his wife, and that at that time he had no intent to take his wife's life."
" 'The doctrine of "irresistible impulse" or in the modern psychiatric vernacular "inability to control one's self", whether used to denote legal insanity, or as a device to escape criminal responsibility for one's acts or to reduce the crime or its degree, has always been rejected in Pennsylvania
u
"We hold that the psychiatric testimony offered in this case is not admissible (1) to absolve or exculpate and acquit a defendant of crime, or (2) to prove a lack of specific intent to kill, and thereby prohibit a verdict of murder of the first degree. This has always been the law of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth v. Tyrrell, 405 Pa., supra. We further hold that since the Act of December 1,1959, P. L. 1621, 18 P.S. §4701, (popularly known as the Split Verdict Act), unless psychiatric testimony is introduced for the purpose of showing insanity under the M'Naghten Eule, (a) it is admissible only after guilt has been determined by a jury or Court, and (b) is relevant and admissible thereafter only for the limited purpose of aiding the jury or Court in fixing the penalty.
"In Commonwealth v. Elliott, 371 Pa. 70, 89 A. 2d 782 (which was decided before the Split Verdict Act) the Court pertinently said (pages 75-76) : 'Defendant contends that because a criminal or murderer is a weak, unstable, aggressive, dangerous moron who is mentally deficient, the sentencing Judge or Court (1) must consider his record during his entire life and particularly reports of every psychologist and psychiatrist who has examined him, and (2) must be controlled by these reports and impose a sentence in the case of murder in the first degree not higher than life imprisonment. This contention carries the theory or doctrine of "diminished responsibility" to an extreme and would vest in a psychiatrist and not in the Courts the right and power to determine and fix punishment for crimes. Such a theory or philosophy would soon transfer the punishment of criminals from Courts to psychiatrists and would inevitably result in a further breakdown of law enforcement and eventual confusion and chaos. Fortunately our cases are opposed to such an undesirable result"
For all of the above reasons, we find no merit in any of appellant's contentions.
Judgment of sentence affirmed.
Our decisions are unanimous in holding that psychiatric evidence is admissible in considering and determining the penalty.
Mr. Justice Cohen, dissented. Mr. Justice Musmanno wrote a dissenting Opinion. Mr. Justice Bok wrote a dissenting Opinion, based upon his belief that the M'Naghten Rule should be abolished.
Italics throughout ours, unless otherwise noted,
Italics in Commonwealth v. Woodhouse.
Cert. denied by the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Court's vote was 4 to S.
Italics in Commonwealth v. Ahearn.
Italics in Commonwealth v. Ahearn and in Commonwealth v. Melton.
Italics, ours.
Italics in Commonwealth v. Ahearn.
Italics in Commonwealth v. Elliott..
Italics in Commonwealth v. Ahearn.
In addition to our cases cited in the majority and dissenting opinions, see U. S. ex rel. Phelan v. Brierly (No. 18,880, October 26, 1971).