Opinion ID: 2337635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Insanity Issue

Text: In Rhode Island, a defendant, if he raises the issue of his insanity, has the burden of proof with respect thereto and a court can instruct the jury that a presumption of the defendant's sanity survives unless they are convinced that the defendant is insane. State v. Quigley, 26 R.I. 263, 58 A. 905, 67 L.R.A. 322; State v. Harris, 89 R.I. 202, 152 A.2d 106. As part of meeting his burden, defendant first summoned to the stand Dr. Robert R. Mezer. Doctor Mezer stated that he had been hired by the state and at its request had been present in court observing defendant since the trial began nine days ago. He also testified that he had studied certain psychiatric and other records and documents concerning defendant which had been furnished to him by the state. When the doctor volunteered the statement that the attorney general would not prosecute a defendant whom the physician thought insane, defense counsel summarily excused the witness from the stand. The state did not cross-examine the doctor but expressly reserved its right to call him in rebuttal. The defense thereupon introduced into evidence as full exhibits certain records of the department of social welfare. This is the department of state government charged with the operation of our penal institutions. Included among these documents were certain records of the department's division of mental hygiene services. These records were the results of examinations made of defendant by the division's psychiatrists and psychometrists during the time defendant was in jail prior to his June 10 parole. The defense not only introduced the records into evidence but they were read aloud to the jury. Letters sent by defendant to various individuals while he was imprisoned in 1954-55 were also read to the jury. The defendant took the stand. He admitted knowing the deceased and being in her home on the afternoon of June 15. He claimed that he had an argument with Mrs. Greene and then there was a flash. He claimed that he hit her once but did not know what happened thereafter; the next thing he remembered was driving the victim's station wagon in Westerly. The defendant said he continued on to Providence and left the motor vehicle at the spot where the police found it. He denied having sexually assaulted the deceased. After defendant concluded his testimony, Dr. Mezer took the stand as a rebuttal witness. He recited an impressive list of his qualifications. Once again he stated that he had prior to the trial studied the reports of the state's psychiatrists and psychometrists, certain photographs and other material all of which were now in evidence. He stated that he had been present in the courtroom during the entire trial, had listened to all the evidence, including defendant's testimony. Doctor Mezer then gave an opinion based upon the records in evidence and the testimony he heard that defendant was not suffering from any disease of the mind which would prevent him from knowing the nature and quality of his act or the difference between right and wrong. The defendant contends that it was error for the superior court to permit the expert witness to give his opinion where it was based in part on the records of certain psychiatrists and psychometrists who did not testify. The use of such records, he claims, is a clear violation of the hearsay rule. It is our belief that defendant takes nothing by this exception. His position on this issue is rather anamolous for, on one hand he urges that the reports introduced into the record at his instance are not competent evidence upon which Dr. Mezer can base an opinion as to defendant's criminal responsibility, while on the other hand he asks us to believe that these same reports can be legitimately used by the jury in considering his burden in regards to his special plea of insanity. Nonetheless, this strange dichotomy is of no particular consequence here since we believe it is not necessary for us to reach a definite answer on this exception. For even assuming that the trial justice in permitting the psychiatrist to give his opinion was in error, we are unable to see how this prejudiced defendant. Our examination of the transcript fails to uncover one iota of competent evidence from which an inference could be drawn that at the time of the commission of the act complained of here, defendant did not have the mental capacity to know the wrongful nature of what he was doing. In our opinion the presumption of defendant's sanity remained with him throughout the trial. In his brief defendant urged that we forsake the M'Naghten rule. In oral argument he conceded that the record is devoid of any evidence probative of the invalidity of the rule. This court in State v. Jefferds, 91 R.I. 214, 162 A.2d 536, in noting the ever increasing fund of knowledge concerning mental illness said that this increased psychiatric know-how had raised serious questions as to the validity of present standards for determining the criminal responsibility of the mentally ill. We held in Jefferds that this court would consider the substitution of another test for the M'Naghten rule only upon being supplied with competent evidence to establish its greater efficiency and reliability over our present standards. We reiterate those sentiments here. The defendant's exceptions to questions concerning standards other than set forth in M'Naghten are overruled.