Opinion ID: 1133622
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Dr. Coleman's Testimony Regarding Intent

Text: In challenging another aspect of Dr. Coleman's testimony, defendant maintains that the doctor's opinions regarding intent were likely to mislead the jury into believing that if an individual performs a particular act, he or she necessarily intended to do so. Defendant points to Dr. Coleman's view that you cannot create a human being who does things in which the behavior would seem to show a purpose behind this behavior, an intention; but in fact, the person doesn't really have this intention.... That is a fantasy, a myth.... [I]t does not happen from brain disease. It does not happen from drugs, it does not happen from mental disorders.... [¶] So if a person behaves in a way which would seem to show that they intended a certain thing, then medical evidence would indicate that was their intention because there's no other reason a person would do it unless they intended to do it. According to defendant, this evidence was inconsistent with legal principles permitting defendants to rely upon mental state defenses. (E.g., People v. Saille (1991) 54 Cal.3d 1103, 1116-1117, 2 Cal. Rptr.2d 364, 820 P.2d 588.) Moreover, defendant contends, the testimony created an unconstitutional presumption of intent. ( Sandstrom v. Montana (1979) 442 U.S. 510, 520-524, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 [jury instruction creating a presumption that a person intends the ordinary consequences of his or her voluntary acts held unconstitutional].) Defendant claims that the prosecutor committed misconduct in eliciting this testimony, that defense counsel was incompetent for failing to object, and that the trial court shirked its obligation to limit or exclude the introduction of inadmissible evidence, rendering his trial fundamentally unfair. Contrary to defendant's assertion, the testimony of one witness could not have created a legal presumption of intent, as did the improper jury instruction considered in Sandstrom v. Montana, supra, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39. Furthermore, the court's instructions to the jury eliminated the possibility that Dr. Coleman's testimony would preclude the jurors from considering whether evidence of defendant's mental state showed that defendant did not have the requisite intent to commit the crimes. The trial court properly instructed the jury that for each crime charged, there must have existed a union or joint operation of act or conduct and a certain specific intent in the mind of the perpetrator. (Italics added.) The jury also was told that it could consider evidence of mental disease, mental defect, mental disorder, and intoxication for the purpose of determining whether defendant actually formed the mental state that is an element of the crime charged. A defendant may demonstrate that he or she did not form the intent required for a crime because of mental illness or voluntary intoxication, but may not exclude expert opinion evidence tending to demonstrate to the jury that such mental illness or intoxication did not prevent the defendant from forming the requisite intent. The extensive testimony of defendant's experts, and the trial court's instructions concerning expert testimony, intent, and mental disorder, persuade us that there is no reasonable likelihood the jury considered itself bound to accept Dr. Coleman's testimony regarding intent. This testimony did not raise an improper presumption of intent or render defendant's trial fundamentally unfair.