Title: State v. Thomas
Citation: 285 P.2d 612, 79 Ariz. 158
Docket Number: 1045-1072
State: Arizona
Issuer: Arizona Supreme Court
Date: June 28, 1955

79 Ariz. 158 (1955) 285 P.2d 612 STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. Arthur THOMAS, Appellant. No. 1045-1072. Supreme Court of Arizona. June 28, 1955. *159 W. Edward Morgan, Tucson, I.B. Tomlinson, Bisbee, for appellant. Robert Morrison, Atty. Gen., L. Alton Riggs, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Wes E. Polley, Bisbee, Cochise County Atty., for appellee. PHELPS, Justice. This appeal is prosecuted by defendant from an order of the trial court denying defendant's motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence. Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree on June 19, 1953, and in accordance with the jury's verdict a judgment and sentence of death was imposed. On an appeal therefrom we affirmed the judgment and fixed a new date for the execution. State v. Thomas, 78 Ariz. 52, 275 P.2d 408. The motion for a new trial, here involved, was filed on December 2, 1954, under the provisions of Rules Cr.Proc. 357(c) (section 44-2004(c), A.C.A. 1939). On the same day defendant filed a petition with the trial court for permission to examine a certain pair of white canvas gloves introduced in evidence at the trial as gloves worn by defendant on the night of the murder. The gloves were bloody and three fingers of the right glove were cut at a point which corresponded with cuts on defendant's same three fingers. The examination of the gloves was sought for the purpose of having the examining expert test the blood to ascertain whether there were present in it "antibodies of certain febrile groups" against which defendant as a member of the armed forces had been immunized by vaccination during the war. The petition was denied. Assuming but not deciding that the order denying the petition is appealable, no appeal was taken therefrom. Therefore the correctness of the ruling of *160 the trial court on that question is not before us. Certainly such petition constitutes no part of the motion for a new trial which must necessarily be based on newly discovered evidence. The petition was designed to discover new evidence upon which to base the motion for a new trial but until such new evidence was discovered it formed no basis for a motion for a new trial. It would be utter folly to grant a new trial upon claimed evidence which does not now exist and may never come into existence. This disposes of applicant's assignment of error No. 2. He contended in assignment No. 1 that the court erred in ruling that defendant's statement made while under the influence of sodium amytal "was not new and additional evidence under the statute." Counsel forthrightly admits that he has found no case which sustains his position but that all cases hold to the contrary. He points out that in People v. Jones, 42 Cal. 2d 219, 266 P.2d 38, while the court refused to admit the statements of the defendant made while under the influence of sodium amytal, it did say that the psychiatrist who observed him while under the influence of sodium amytal should have been permitted to testify as an expert and to state on what basis he reached his conclusion. This is in harmony with the other reported cases in that in no case was the statement of defendant while under such influence admitted in evidence. Some of the grounds upon which this kind of evidence is rejected are: Other cases base it upon the proposition that it is not yet scientifically established that it is at all accurate. Another reason for rejecting such evidence is that the tests were not reliable or generally approved and accepted by members of the medical profession specializing in psychiatry. The case giving the most exhaustive consideration to this character of evidence, we believe to be State v. Lindemuth, 56 N.M. 257, 243 P.2d 325, 335. After discussing the subject at length, citing many medical authorities the court quotes a report from the American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 107, No. 8, February 1951 issue, pp. 586-593, giving the result of experiments made on nine persons who had intravenous injections of sodium amytal and were questioned while under its influence. "Each of the subjects had a true and a cover story. We quote from page 589 of the article: The court concluded by saying: There is of course the further reason why such testimony should not be admitted in evidence as pointed out by a number of the cases and that is that the testimony is taken outside the presence of the court and the jury and there is no opportunity for cross-examination. We unhesitatingly rule that the court correctly denied the motion for a new trial. Order affirmed. LA PRADE, C.J., and UDALL, WINDES and STRUCKMEYER, JJ., concur.