Opinion ID: 308716
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the decision on this point

Text: 144 We have given an elaborate description of the testimony on the insanity issue and the trial maneuvers incident thereto because diligent counsel for the defendant has assigned no less than twenty trial errors which he says should justify a reversal. Two of these errors have been discussed ante. All assignments have been carefully considered but we shall now discuss only those which, in our opinion, merit discussion for the appropriate disposition of the appeal. 145 The really important assignment is stated as follows: 146 Did the District Court violate Davila-Nater's rights of confrontation, of cross-examination and to have hearsay evidence excluded by admitting into evidence Government's Exhibits 4 and 6 and testimony on other medical reports and in permitting the government to offer testimony and to cross-examine witnesses in regards to these matters without limiting instructions insofar that said exhibits, evidence, testimony and cross-examination permitted the substantive use of reports and testimony which contained diagnostic or expressions of opinions and findings or conclusions of doctors not present to testify? 147 This attack, of course, is levelled against the army psychiatric report, signed by Dr. Berc, page 17 ante, and the staff report signed by Dr. Glotfeltz, page 23 ante. The report of Dr. Fain was introduced, but he appeared and testified. It must also be noted that the report signed by Dr. Glotfeltz, no longer with the Springfield Medical Center, was specifically denominated at its top in capital letters as the REPORT OF PSYCHIATRIC STAFF. Dr. Fain was a member of that staff, indeed its deputy chief, and had become chief between his dealings with Davila and his appearance on the stand. 148 The Springfield report had been furnished to defense counsel in March, before the trial began in May. The mother of the defendant and all the doctors had seen it. The defense doctors had considered it in connection with their own views, although they disagreed with it. The defense injected the report, by reference, in its re-direct examination of Dr. Bennett, page 20 ante. This was before the government introduced the report on re-direct when Dr. Fain testified. 149 It is true that opinions as to sanity contained in hospital records are not admissible under the Business Records Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1732, and such an opinion is receivable only if the expert rendering it is made available for cross examination, Birdsell v. United States, 5 Cir., 1965, 346 F.2d 775, 779. But the rule does not stop there. Expert witnesses available for cross examination may use such records as the basis for an opinion without the proponent having to call every person who made a recorded observation, Id. at 779. 150 More specifically, a physician making a diagnosis must necessarily rely on observations and tests made by others and recorded by them. Records sufficient for diagnosis in the hospital ought to be enough for opinion testimony in the courtroom, Id. at 779, 780. 151 We next consider a similar situation in United States v. Harper, 5 Cir., 1971, 450 F.2d 1032. 152 Part II of that opinion demonstrates that there was no error in permitting Dr. Fain to say that he had Davila for the purpose of determining his competency to stand trial, that there was no error in reading to defense doctors the statements of doctors from Springfield by way of cross examination or impeachment, that there is a difference between admitting such reports directly as proof of matters they contain and doing so for impeachment purposes. 153 The opinion concluded with the following highly important language: 154 Although medical reports containing expert opinions as to the defendant's sanity may not be admitted directly into evidence, they may be used by other experts in arriving at a conclusion as to the defendant's sanity. E. g., Jenkins v. United States, 1962, 113 U.S.App.D.C. 300, 307 F.2d 637 (en banc); Rule 703, Proposed Rules of Evidence for United States Courts and Magistrates, 51 F.R.D. 315, 404 (1971). And if an expert witness considers such reports in reaching his conclusions, it is open to both sides to question him about what weight he gave the reports and why. See Brown v. United States, 1967, 126 U.S.App.D.C. 134, 375 F.2d 310, 318; Smith v. United States, 1965, 122 U.S.App.D.C. 300, 353 F.2d 838, 842 & n. 7; Birdsell v. United States, 5 Cir. 1965, 346 F.2d 775, 779; Rule 705, Proposed Rules of Evidence for United States Courts and Magistrates, 51 F.R.D. 315, 406 (1971). 155 The reason for that rule is clear. The issue of the defendant's insanity, when raised as a defense to a criminal prosecution, is to be decided by the jury on the basis of all the evidence. Therefore, although expert opinion evidence on the issue cannot be arbitrarily ignored, it is not binding upon the jury. Rather it is only advisory in nature. Indeed, it is the jury's function to assess the credibility of the expert witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony. Mims v. United States, 5 Cir. 1967, 375 F.2d 135, 140-143. In a case such as this, in which expert witnesses express different conclusions as to the defendant's mental condition at the time of the alleged offense, it is important that the jury know upon what facts the expert witness bases his conclusion. As we have said on several occasions, expert opinion as to insanity rises no higher than the reasons upon which it is based. E. g., Nagell v. United States, 5 Cir., 1968, 392 F.2d 934, 936. 156 Thus, where, as here, an expert witness bases his conclusion as to the defendant's sanity on reports of other physicians, it is entirely proper that the jury know which opinions he credited, which he rejected, and why. As long as the jury is instructed that such hearsay opinions are being introduced solely to test the credibility of the expert witness and not to prove the truth of the matters contained therein, the use of such opinions for that limited purpose does not violate the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment. 157 United States v. Harper, 5 Cir., 1972, 460 F.2d 705, was another bank robbery case, in which the defendant pleaded insanity. 158 In that case, a psychiatrist from the Medical Center at Springfield, where Harper had been committed for examination, testified that, in his opinion, Harper was sane. Dr. Moreau had access to appellant's medical records and to a report prepared (as in the case now before us) by Dr. Murney. Our en banc decision in United States v. Williams, 5 Cir., 1971, 447 F.2d 1285, was cited to the effect that expert testimony may be based on sources of information of a type reasonably relied on by experts in forming their opinions or inferences on the subject. Birdsell, supra, was likewise cited and discussed in the following clear and meaningful language: 159 In addition, we held in a closely analogous case, Birdsell v. United States, 5 Cir. 1965, 346 F.2d 775, cert. den. 382 U.S. 963, 86 S.Ct. 449, 15 L.Ed.2d 366 (1965), reh. den. 383 U.S. 923, 86 S.Ct. 900, 15 L.Ed.2d 680 (1966), that although it is preferable for the doctor who examined the defendant to testify, a psychiatist who has reviewed all of the records and attended a staff conference with the examining doctor is qualified to give his opinion as to whether the defendant was sane at the time of the commission of the crime. Here, Dr. Moreau based his opinion upon a brief psychiatric staff examination of the appellant at which Dr. Moreau was present, medical reports which consisted of a psychological examination, routine laboratory tests and electroencephalogram, and a staff evaluation. We therefore find no reversible error occurred by allowing Dr. Moreau to testify, even though Dr. Murney was present and available to testify. 160 Counsel for appellant says the incurable vice is that the jury received no limiting instructions as to the use of these reports. We are of the opinion, however, that this requirement was not applicable to the two Springfield reports. The main report showed specifically that it was a staff report. Dr. Fain was a member of the staff, although a deputy chief. He had personally signed the second, attached report. He was available for cross examination on both reports. The reports had been extensively referred to on all sides prior to admission, which took place on the re-direct examination of Dr. Fain. 161 The army records of the psychiatrical examination of December 12, 1969, are, of course, different. None of the army doctors were present for cross examination. The trial record reveals, however, that this report was extensively referred to for purposes of cross examination and attempted impeachment, and it was considered by defense psychiatrists as a part of their opinion forming process. Moreover the defense turned the report to its own advantage, by witnesses and otherwise, as a basis for showing the rapid mental deterioration suffered by Davila after 1969. The focal issue was Davila's condition two years later, August 5, 1971. We are simply unable to perceive where the absence of the limiting instructions prejudiced the defendant, considered within the context of this wide ranging foray into Davila's mental status over a long period of time. It was simply a paper, dealing with Davila's condition two years before the event, whereas, the jury had seen and heard in person a long array of experts, possessed of the most imposing credentials, grappling over the mental status as it existed on robbery day. This small pebble in the road is not enough to overturn the whole wagon. 162